'Terrorists using social media, Afghanistan's SIMs for their communication'

ISLAMABAD: The report of National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) revealed that terrorists are still using SIM cards of Afghanistan and social media at large for their communication purpose.

While raising questions over the performance Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), NACTA said the move of blocking 90 million SIMs, 1,000 websites and over 3,000 social media pages was not fully enough to terminate communication lines of terrorists.

“Electronic Crimes Act has been a failure in protecting national security infrastructures from cyber attacks,” the report said, suggesting that clauses related to the defense of cyber attacks should be included in the Act.

A cyber surveillance unit should also be established in the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), it added.

Earlier in April, NACTA signed a memorandum of understanding with law enforcement agencies to stop financial aid for terrorism activities.

The MoU was signed by the institutions including Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR), and National Accountability Bureau. The counter terrorism departments of all provinces were also made part of the MoU.According to NACTA, the agreement would pave the way for effective implementation of national task force’s recommendations.