The federal cabinet has authorized the officers of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) not ranking below grade 18 to intercept calls and messages or to trace calls through any telecommunication system.
Sources told ProPakistani this has been communicated in the form of an SRO 1005(I)2024 dated July 8, 2024, by the Ministry of IT and Telecom as envisaged under Section 54 of the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organization) Act, 1996.
The SRO said the federal government has approved this in the interest of national security and for apprehending any offense.
As anyone can expect, the ability to trace calls and messages is included in this authorization. Sources said this gives the intelligence agency full authority to record communications from multiple apps like WhatsApp.