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| What is the connection of Afghan mobile phones with the disappearance of Imran Riaz and can they be used in Pakistan? |
YouTuber and anchor person Imran Riaz has been missing for almost a month and a half, but the higher authorities and investigative agencies in Pakistan have not been able to find anything about him so far, where is he?
However, police officials have mentioned the use of Afghan mobile phones regarding their location.
Usman Anwar, the Inspector General of Police of Pakistan's Punjab Province, said in the court regarding the disappearance of Imran Riaz that there was evidence of the use of Afghanistan's mobile phone numbers in the disappearance of Imran Riaz as well.
A few days ago, Federal Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah also told journalist Adil Shahzeb's program that he has not been able to know anything about Imran Riaz and where he is, but the investigation is ongoing.
Imran Riaz was arrested by the police on May 11 and then, according to the police, he was released from jail on May 16 on an assurance that he would behave well in the future.
He has been missing ever since and police say his whereabouts have been unknown ever since.
In the hearing of the case related to the disappearance of Imran Riaz, Inspector General Police Punjab Usman Anwar had said in the court that nothing has been known about the location of Imran Riaz but in the geo-fencing that has been done, mobile phones from Afghanistan have been used. They are known to exist but they cannot trace Afghanistan's mobile phone SIM, so their location is not known.
The Lahore High Court had ordered on May 26 that Imran Riaz should be found and produced in the court by May 30, but so far he has not been produced.
This statement of IG Punjab is also unclear because he did not say whether Afghan mobile phone SIMs are being used in Pakistan or whether Imran Riaz has gone to Afghanistan and Afghan mobile phone numbers are in contact with him there. Or they have been contacted by someone using an Afghanistan mobile phone number.
What does IG Punjab have to say?
Considering the current situation, when Punjab Inspector General of Police Usman Anwar was asked where the Afghan SIMs are being used, he said that they are trying to provide them with the data of Afghan SIMs that are in contact with Pakistan. I am and along with that, all the data that was used in the various provinces where he (Imran Riaz) has been located should be given.
He said that he was trying to get all the telephone calls and internet usage data that was previously used through his Twitter handle. For this, the Ministry of Defense has promised help on the order of the High Court and they have also gone to Islamabad to obtain this data.
He said that working group meetings were held in this regard and the police are trying to find out where Imran Riaz is.
He said that they are not saying whether Afghan SIMs are being used in Pakistan or not, we need a record of the calls being made in Pakistan from these numbers.
He said that "I never said that Imran Riaz is in Afghanistan, I only want records from the International Gateway."
Are Afghan mobile sims used in Pakistan?
Are Afghanistan mobile phone numbers being used in Pakistan or not and are Afghan SIM numbers being used here with local internet service or are these SIMs being used in Afghanistan and have their facilitators here?
Apart from this, it is also said that these SIMs are being used only on WhatsApp.
Some business circles in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan have also been using these Afghan SIMs, but now these businessmen use their own country's phone network and this is now done through WhatsApp.
Former president of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Mohammad Ishaq, told BBC that long ago it had some coverage in some areas in both countries, but when these SIMs were used in illegal activities, their coverage area was limited. was done and it is limited only to the Pak-Afghan border so traders use wats through the Internet and now traders use SIM cards and networks of their respective countries.
He said that now the businessmen of both countries or anywhere in the world have contacts for trade, they are done only on WhatsApp, and SIM calls are rare or non-existent.
Criminal use of Afghan mobile phone SIMs
When it comes to incidents of extortion, terrorism, or kidnapping for ransom in Pakistan, there have been reports of Afghanistan's mobile phone numbers or SIMs being used.
According to police officials, criminals also use these sims. Most of the crime investigation officers in Pakistan report cases of extortion, terrorism, or kidnapping for ransom, and most of these cases involve mobile phone numbers from Afghanistan.
To some extent in areas bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan where mobile phone towers are installed, these mobile phone SIMs work, but how can these SIMs work in other areas of Pakistan.
The contacts of banned Tehreek-e-Pakistan also usually use SIMs of mobile phone numbers in Afghanistan.
Former Inspector General of Police Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Moazim Jah Ansari this year while talking to some journalists in Vari, said, "Afghan SIMs are used in most of the phone calls received in Pakistan for extortion."
He said that these poisons are used in Afghanistan.
He said that the matter was also placed before the federal government to discuss with the Afghan authorities to prevent it.
An officer investigating these incidents, on the condition of anonymity, said that 'in the border areas, the mobile phone SIM of Afghanistan works to some extent, but in other parts of the country, the SIM of any other country does not work. Operates as a roaming service in partnership with mobile phone companies but only through a local mobile phone service provider or IP address.
Akhtar Ali Shah, a former senior police officer in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, told the BBC, "Afghan sims have been used here for a long time and there have been discussions at the central and provincial levels on how to prevent it." .'
He said that if any kind of SIM is used during the investigation of crimes, usually an attempt is made to reach the facilitator of the SIM user because the Afghan SIM is being used somewhere across the border. Their facilitators must be somewhere in Pakistan, so the accused are reached through these links.
What is the procedure to use Afghan SIM?
Investigating officers and officials of mobile phone service providers say that these SIMs are used in two ways, one is to make calls directly from the mobile phone SIM number, but it is difficult to trace it in Afghanistan.
For this, servers are searched which secretly provide CDR and from this CDR the location of this mobile phone SIM can be found.
Also, WhatsApp is used on mobile phone SIM numbers of Afghan or any other country and it also becomes difficult to trace because it generates IP instead of CDR call detail records e.g. There are IP numbers.
These IP addresses tell about a particular location, in which area, or in which room it is being used by a Wi-Fi network, but if the WhatsApp number is being used by a mobile phone company, finding the location is difficult. It becomes difficult because mobile towers keep changing
What is the position of the PTA?
I contacted the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority about the use of SIM used for Afghan mobile phone service in Pakistan and tried to find out whether Afghan SIMs are being used in Pakistan, the answer from PTK officials was clear. That 'don't be used.'
When he was asked that in the year 2013, it was told in the Peshawar High Court that 40,000 Afghan mobile phone sims are being used in the country, the PTA's reply was that it was 'not in their knowledge'.
Then he was asked if the roaming of Afghan mobile phone SIM is allowed in Pakistan, he said that "International roaming of Afghan SIMs is banned in Pakistan since 2014."
When the PTA officials were asked which cities in Pakistan are using Afghan SIMs more and what steps have been taken to prevent them, they said that the international roaming of Afghan SIMs in Pakistan has been stopped since 2014. has gone Additionally, to prevent the use of Pakistani SIMs on Afghan networks in border areas, international roaming of Pakistani SIMs on Afghan networks has been stopped from February 2023.
An official working in a mobile phone company said that if a company is operating in Afghanistan or any other country, then that company is partnered with a company here in Pakistan and thus these two companies are operating in their respective countries. Each other's phones support the SIM, but it was banned in Pakistan due to misuse of Afghan SIMs.
SIM of one country is used in another country and not even known?
As technology changes and the extent to which mobile phones and their applications are changing, prevention measures are becoming more difficult. E-SIMs facility is also available in modern mobile phone sets.
Use of Afghan Mobile SIMs in Pakistan
In the current situation, the authorities say that the SIMs of Afghanistan's mobile phone companies are no longer being used in Pakistan, from which voice calls or messages are being made, but in 2013, during a trial in the Peshawar High Court, the officials of the National Accountability Bureau It was said that 40000 SIM cards of Afghanistan's mobile phone companies are working in Pakistan.
According to the news published in the daily Dawn on October 24, 2013, NAB told the court that around 40,000 Afghan mobile phone sims are being used in Pakistan. The hearing in the court was about unregistered mobile phone numbers used in Pakistan.
Senior police officers in Punjab province, on condition of anonymity, said that evidence of Afghan SIM use in Punjab is negligible and the investigation revealed that if any calls were received from Afghan SIM, the center in Afghanistan or the call is made from somewhere near the Pak-Afghan border. These sims are not used in Punjab.
What are the opinions of telecom experts?
The mobile phone system in the world is expanding so much that the human mind is stunned. A SIM is actually a subscriber identity module and has an identity that is displayed to other mobile phones during communication, but now this identity can also be hidden.
To trace it, it can be found which area the sim is in, which tower it is connected to, and which BTS location it was made from.
An assistant professor specializing in telecommunications, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that a 40-meter radius can be determined using a mobile phone's GPS system to determine its exact location.
Now most people use SIM cards of any country on WhatsApp but for that, the internet supply will be from the country where the phone is being used and WhatsApp from the internet IP address of that country. It may indicate where the phone is but it is difficult to know what is being communicated.
The assistant professor said that there is a ban on any Afghanistan SIM cards for voice calls or messages, but these SIM can be used in border areas where signals from Afghanistan towers are coming.
Research experts say that now even in the areas along the border of Afghanistan, the signals of Afghanistan's mobile phones are almost non-existent. Experts said that mobile phone companies in Afghanistan are not allowed to roam for voice or messages in Pakistan.
The assistant professor said that it also happens that applications are now being used to hide your location, called virtual private networks, or VPNs.
He said that some people are connected to the network of Pakistan but they keep their location secret and these VPNs are easily found, some are bought and some are free. To prevent this, institutions work in Pakistan and these VPNs are blocked, but people create different VPNs like this to earn money.
According to experts, some people set up their own private gateways and those people connect through VPNs from other countries in the world, which are kept secret, but law enforcement agencies often take action against such gateways. do
Now as far as Imran Riaz's location is concerned, it is still a mystery as the police authorities have not yet clarified how and why Afghanistan's mobile numbers are being used and about Imran Riaz's location. Geo-fencing and investigative agencies have so far not been able to clarify how these Afghan mobile phone SIMs were being used.