Search form

You are here

  • Home
  • Pakistan to block smuggled phones from next year


Pakistan to block smuggled phones from next year

Pakistan is finally cracking down on smuggled cell phones. (AFP file photo)
Updated 24 November 2018
KHURSHID AHMED 
Follow

Pakistan to block smuggled phones from next year

  • Pakistani phone market is flooded with imported and smuggled sets, State Bank says
  • Federal Cabinet has decided to promote the local mobile phone industry
Updated 24 November 2018
KHURSHID AHMED 

KARACHI: As Pakistan’s federal government sets a deadline to block smuggled phone handsets by the end of this year, the dealers call for a comprehensive strategy with consultation of stakeholder to make it successful.

The federal cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday set the deadline of Dec 31, 2018 for blocking all new and used mobile phones smuggled into the country.

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry briefing media after the cabinet meeting said “The cabinet has decided to impose block new mobile phones to be smuggled into the country after December 31, 2018 while those already in use will not be allowed to be operational after December 31, 2018”.

Pakistan imported mobile phone sets worth $739.8 million during the last fiscal year while rising trend shows that the country has imported $212 million worth of phones during the first four months of currency fiscal year FY19, State Bank of Pakistan data shows.

“Pakistan imports stands at around 800,000 to 900,000 sets per months”, said Muhammad Rizwan Irfan, president of Karachi Electronic Dealers’ Association. “The same number of mobile sets are smuggled into the country every month”, he told Arab News.

However, Fawad Chaudhry says that around 82 million mobile phones were imported through legal channels every year and 2.5 billion mobile phones were smuggled into the country, a trend that needs to be discouraged.

“The sale of second-hand mobile phones was completely banned in the country but the sale-purchase of used mobile phones was being carried out freely. The federal cabinet has decided to take strict action against this business” he added.

Government intends to enforce Device Identification Registration & Blocking System DIRB developed by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) for facilitation of general public. The system expected to ensure the use of legal mobile devices on Pakistani networks.

“Government’s effort to ban mobile phone will not work until the dealers are not taken into confidence before enforcement of any policy which is made without stakeholders’ consultation”, Rizwan Irfan observed.

Irfan calls improvement of system to discourage smuggling of mobile phones and imposition of duty on the sets confiscated by the authorities so that the government could generate revenue. “Government needs to simply procedure by eliminating hurdles including condition of PTA registration etc. The importers are willing to pay duty and taxes. The imports has declined from 3.5 million and government is also losing revenue on the imports”, he added. 

Fawad Chaduhry also said that the cabinet has decided to promote the local mobile phone industry and hinted at banning import of mobile phones in the next phase.

However, at present the country is meeting all of its domestic mobile phone demand through imports.

China’s Hisense would be the first to start complete assembling of smart phones in Pakistan from January next year.  “The process of installing a modern assembly line for the smartphones will be completed by the end of December this year. The locally-assembled smartphones will be available in markets across Pakistan from March 2019,” M. Tariq Zubairi, CFO of Tri-Angels Electronic, the manufacturer and distributors of Hisense in Pakistan, had told Arab News recently.

However, some manufacturers of computer equipment complain about the government’s apathy towards the promotion of local IT industry. “We are assembling smart phones in Pakistan up to 20 percent while 80 percent are assembled in China but due to lack of government support the investors are reluctant to extend their investment in Pakistan”, Syed Tahir Rizvi, CEO of One Apple, a local IT company, told Arab News.

“We are manufacturing complete keyboard and mouse in Pakistan and all-in-one desktop computers but still lacking government’s recognition and support,” Rizvi lamented, adding “For manufacturing of smartphones some high tech machinery is needed which would only be possible if investors get government support and recognition of local industry”.

Pakistan has 60 million smartphone users out of total 152 million cellular phone subscribers in the country with 73.23 percent teledensity. 

Topics: Pakistan cellular phones smuggling

Related

Special
World
Police arrest supporters of detained Pakistani cleric
Pakistan
Pakistan approves Kartarpur corridor as part of peace initiative with India

Too warm to freeze: Climate shift threatens ice hockey in Pakistan’s Hunza Valley

Updated 7 sec ago
Reuters
Follow

Too warm to freeze: Climate shift threatens ice hockey in Pakistan’s Hunza Valley

  • Rising temperatures, falling snowfall disrupt community-run tournament dependent on natural ice
  • Scientists report shorter snow seasons across Hindu Kush-Himalayan region as climate risks grow
Updated 7 sec ago
Reuters

HUNZA, Pakistan: Aleena Gul used to watch the pool beside her home in Pakistan’s Hunza Valley freeze solid each winter, transforming it into a makeshift ice hockey rink.

This year, it barely froze at all.

“If we see, there’s a big difference between 2018 and now in 2026,” said Gul, a local player whose family has hosted the community tournament for eight seasons.

“Winter used to begin in November and everything would freeze, . It’s January now and the ice still hasn’t frozen properly,” said Gul, a local player whose family has hosted the community tournament for eight seasons.

The change has disrupted a small but growing winter sports tradition in the mountainous region near the Chinese border, where residents say colder, longer winters once provided reliable natural ice.

Scientists studying the wider Hindu Kush-Himalayan region have reported fewer extreme cold events and shorter snow seasons, with snowfall increasingly failing to settle. Weather data for Hunza shows winter precipitation down by about 30 percent since the late 2010s, with some recent winters two to three degrees Celsius warmer.

That is a challenge for a region reliant on visitors, where winter tourism depends heavily on snowfall and freezing temperatures.

The community-run ice hockey tournament in Hunza depends entirely on natural ice. When Gul’s pool failed to freeze properly this year, organizers scrambled to find an alternative venue nearly two hours north, in a town close to the Chinese border.

Even there, conditions were difficult.

“I expected better ice conditions, but when I saw the rink I felt a bit sad. Many of our players fell. The surface had too many bumps and wasn’t strong,” said Yahya Karim, another player.

Of three matches scheduled on the first day, only one went ahead.

“Today, we got ready at almost around 9 o’clock. When we got called for the match, we saw that the ice was not in a good condition. So, all these things are very unexpected for us. And this is a side effect of climate change,” Gul said.

Naseer Uddin, co-founder of the youth organization SCARF, said volunteers had worked for about a week preparing the arena.

“We worked on this arena for about a week. We had planned [a match] here. Then, suddenly, when the sun came out today, so we had to switch suddenly because the ice in this arena has been spoiled,” he said.

Sadiq Saleem, president of the Altit Town Management Society, said residents were witnessing a noticeable change.

“We are witnessing a sudden shift in Hunza’s weather pattern, [both] in the snowfall and freezing [temperature] here. We are seeing a big shift in the intensity of winter here,” he said.

The girls’ match eventually went ahead, and Gul’s team emerged victorious. But the uncertainty over ice conditions has left many wondering how long the tradition can survive.

Climate change has become a growing concern for Pakistan, which contributes less than 1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions yet is frequently ranked among the countries most vulnerable to global warming.

This week, Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority warned of an elevated risk of glacial lake outburst floods in the north as rising temperatures threaten to accelerate snow and glacier melt. Seasonal forecasts point to higher-than-normal temperatures and possible early heatwave conditions in Gilgit-Baltistan and upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, regions that include Hunza.

For now, players in the valley are making do with what winter brings. But as temperatures rise, even a simple backyard rink is no longer guaranteed.

Topics: Hunza Pakistan

Latest updates

Too warm to freeze: Climate shift threatens ice hockey in Pakistan’s Hunza Valley
Sri Lanka detains former spy chief over 2019 Easter bombings
Soldiers on the streets. What’s behind South Africa’s plan to deploy army in high-crime areas
Abiy’s vision of Ethiopia includes a seaport in Eritrea. Some see a looming conflict
Argentine lawmakers approve historic labor reform promoted by President Javier Milei

Search form

Print Edition
Read pdf version Subscribe now
© 2026 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.