One of the highlights of the PTI government has been the declaration and registration of personal assets which also includes mobile phones. That not only helps in collecting data on individuals it also helps for government to carry out statistical analysis and to make long term planning easier and more efficient. However, not all Pakistanis have gotten around the implementation of DIRBS, majority of whom have businesses which run through the sale purchase of smuggled phones, and so they have figured out a way to go around the DIRBS system to continue on with their businesses.
The major step here is the use of smuggled and lost passports and identifications which are then use to register smuggled and stolen to phones to make them look legal and thus business keeps on running like it always did. The statistics revealed regarding the matter are as follows:
986000 mobile phones were received for registrations
656000 were registered
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data of 44943 international travelers were stolen and then misused for mobile registration to prevent any blocking during the use of the phone and can then be sold for handsome prices
Actions were taken regarding this act with 750 cases being brought to the FIA and FBR for further assessment. On June 16, 2019, PTA reported 40911 cases to FIA and FBR for further action and the cases are under process. Further 282 miscellaneous cases were reported to FIA and FBR for further action and the cases are under process. So a total of 44943 such cases of data theft have been reported so far.
Airports share travellers data with 12 major institutions which include Bureau of Immigration, FBR, NADRA, Directorate of Immigration and Passport, ISI, ISI Headquarter, MI, FIA, Ministry of Interior, IB, Punjab Polic CTD, Punjab Police Special Branch, and Special Security Division. PTA is closely working with all these agencies to track down these smugglers and to take serious action against them to prevent them from happening in the future.
