According to sources, the home secretary will soon meet his telecom counterpart D S Mathur for a detailed discussion on the issue so that the department of telecom could pass on necessary security guidelines to service providers.
In the recent terror attacks triggered by mobile phones at Mecca masjid in Hyderabad and Dargah Sharif in Ajmer, the SIM cards were purchased under the same fictitious name -- Babulal Yadav -- while the photographs in the application forms turned out to be of another person, Noida-based yoga teacher Tarak Nath.
According to sources, the home ministry will soon review the security aspect of mobile connections, keeping in mind the huge volume of SIM cards that terrorists might be misusing.
While there are some guidelines to be followed before issuing SIM cards, the ministry's effort will be to ensure that they are followed strictly to ensure a certain degree of compliance. However, with cases of terrorists misusing SIM cards, a post-sale mechanism will be evolved, home ministry sources said.
Source: The Times of India, 20th Oct, 2007
