Sindh High Court Orders Strict Implementation of Journalist Accreditation Rules On December 15, the Sindh High Court’s circuit bench in Hyderabad directed the Sindh Information Department to constitute divisional, regional and provincial accreditation committees and to ensure that accreditation cards are issued only to genuine, full-time working journalists, photographers and cameramen. The directions were issued while dismissing a constitutional petition related to the allotment of residential plots in the Journalists Colony. In its detailed judgment, the division constitutional bench comprising Justice Adnan-ul-Karim Memon and Justice Riazat Ali Sahar emphasized strict compliance with Rule 3 of the Sindh Government Accreditation Rules, 2010. The court ordered that the accreditation process must follow the prescribed procedure and that no accreditation card should be issued independently or in violation of the rules. The judgment, authored by Justice Adnan-ul-Karim Memon, was released on Monday after the court had reserved its verdict on December 9. The court underscored the need for proper institutional mechanisms to verify the professional status of journalists through duly constituted accreditation committees at all levels. The court observed that accreditation cards play a critical role in determining eligibility for benefits meant for journalists and therefore must be issued only after thorough scrutiny. It noted that the absence of properly functioning committees could undermine the purpose of the accreditation system. The directions were issued in a case filed by 23 individuals claiming to be journalists, who had sought allotment of residential plots in the Journalists Colony designated for members of the Hyderabad Press Club. The court dismissed the petition after finding that the petitioners failed to establish any legal or equitable right to the plots. During the hearing, the Hyderabad Press Club president was represented by Barrister Jawad Ahmed Qureshi, while Assistant Advocate General Sindh Rafiq Ahmed Dahri appeared on behalf of the provincial government. Concluding the matter, the court reiterated that the Sindh Information Department must ensure transparency and adherence to the law in the accreditation process so that only eligible and full-time media professionals are recognized under the applicable rules.

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Problem of SIM spoofing

November 30, 2012

By: IMRAN

THE problem of sim spoofing has been increasing day after day that is ultimately creating harassment among customers. In sim spoofing the customer sim may be used illegally for calls and text messages, without his knowledge, though the sim is active and in the use of the customer.

Obviously, it is not possible for the common man to to do sim spoofing. Only those who have high accessibility on the customers’ private information can do this activity as a result of illegal use of the authority.

The people who are involved in sim spoofing can tell the exact location, including the area and the city, wherever a customer has gone. Thus they are able to listen to the customer’s mobile-to-mobile and mobile-to-landline conversations, can also interfere in the conversations, as well as read text messages, including the deleted ones, bug landline numbers and can use the customer sims illegally without his knowledge.

No doubt, sim spoofing creates harassment for a customer, especially when he finds that an unknown person has taken control of his sim and has received the incoming call despite the fact that the sim was with him and was active.

However, whenever the victim customer changes the sim, he finds to his surprise within five minutes that the same unknown person has traced the new sim number and started to contact him on it.

Many times a customer receives calls from a ‘private number’, and text messages from numbers that are surprisingly not in anyone’s use. When the customer contacts the sim company, he is told that no such sim is issued as yet to anyone and is available for sale. The government must ensure the privacy of customers and monitor those individuals and authorities who are actually given the responsibility to monitor others’ smses and calls.

Dawn