ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) clarified on Friday that its injunction regarding the blocking of SIM cards was intended to prevent actions against private telecom companies, not to stop the blocking of SIM cards altogether.
At the beginning of the hearing, the attorney general requested the dismissal of the stay order on blocking mobile phone SIMs. In response, the chief justice noted that the previous order had been misrepresented in the media, clarifying that it did not prohibit the blocking of SIMs but rather halted actions against private companies.
According to Geo News, the IHC had, on May 14, temporarily stopped the government from blocking the SIMs of individuals who had not paid their taxes until May 27. This directive was issued by IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq while hearing a petition from a mobile phone company challenging the decision to block SIMs of non-filers.
The petition was filed shortly after the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and telecom operators had agreed to block non-filers’ SIMs as a measure to address tax evasion and boost revenue. Following extensive discussions among stakeholders, the FBR announced earlier this month that telecom companies would start the manual process of blocking SIMs in small batches until they could fully automate the system.
