ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) instructed the federal government not to stop SIM cards of those who haven’t paid taxes. This came up during a case filed by a mobile company against the government’s decision to block SIMs of non-taxpayers.
Chief Justice Aamer Farooq of the IHC paused the government’s move until May 27. This happened after discussions between the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and telecom firms about blocking SIMs of non-filers to tackle tax evasion and improve revenue.
The FBR announced telecom firms will manually block SIMs in small groups until they automate the process. They started with 5,000 non-filers and will continue in batches.
Telecom companies have begun informing non-filers about blocking their SIMs. Discussions between FBR and telecom operators arose after disagreement over blocking 500,000 SIMs of people not on the taxpayer list.
During the hearing, petitioner’s lawyer Salman Akram Raja argued against the law change, citing Article 18 of the Constitution, which defends business freedom. Raja stated that laws shouldn’t contradict constitutional rights and the government can’t amend laws to block SIMs.
