By Asad Kharal

LAHORE: The country’s cellular service providers have refused to provide call records to the Interior Ministry and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) after the lapsing of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance (PECO), sources said on Sunday.

Recently, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) was barred from issuing letters to cellular companies for providing call data to the FIA for investigation.

Now the FIA cannot get direct access to call records for completing investigations and inquiries, the sources said.

Like police and other law enforcement agencies, FIA’s inquiry officers have to contact the Intelligence Bureau joint director general and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) sector commander to get access to call records, the sources added.

Following the intelligence agency’s directives to the PTA, mobile companies have refused to give call records to the FIA, saying they would not give direct access to their records until the re-implementation of PECO, annulled by the Supreme Court in its verdict against the National Reconciliation Ordinance.

The sources said the intelligence agency also stopped the PTA from demanding a direct access to the call data. They said the FIA would now have to wait for more than a week to obtain the record. Under PECO, the FIA could access all data within 24 hours through focal persons nominated at its zonal offices.

FIA Director General Zafarullah Khan said PECO would be presented in parliament soon, calling it “very important” for the agency.
Source: Daily Times
Date:4/26/2010