The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), the country’s telecom regulator, has started blocking WhatsApp accounts that remain linked to inactive SIM cards. PTA officials said the move is meant to curb misuse of mobile numbers that are no longer controlled by their original users.
The blocking follows an awareness campaign in which the authority urged people to keep their WhatsApp accounts tied to active mobile numbers still in their possession. PTA had already advised users to update WhatsApp registration if a previously registered SIM had been deactivated, cancelled, or was simply no longer in use.
Why inactive SIMs create a risk
Inactive mobile numbers can become a security problem because telecom operators may eventually reissue them to other subscribers. If a WhatsApp account stays registered on such a number, the original owner can lose control of the account or leave it open to unauthorised access.
That concern is why PTA had earlier warned about WhatsApp accounts registered on inactive or cancelled SIMs. The new blocking step is presented as a follow-up to those warnings, not a sudden change of policy without notice.
What PTA wants users to do
PTA has asked mobile users to check the status of their SIMs and confirm that WhatsApp is registered with a number they currently use and control. Anyone who has changed their mobile number should use WhatsApp’s built-in number-change feature to transfer the account to the number they hold now.
Doing so, the authority says, helps people keep control of their chats and reduces the chance that an old, unused registration is taken over after the number changes hands.
What happens next
Users whose WhatsApp still sits on a dead or cancelled SIM should expect that account to be blocked under the process PTA says has already begun. The practical fix is to re-register on an active SIM they own, or to complete WhatsApp’s number-change steps before they lose access.
There is no separate timetable in the available details beyond confirmation that blocking has started after the awareness campaign. For most people, the immediate task is simple: match WhatsApp to a live number still in their hands.
Aasan alfaaz mein
PTA ne woh WhatsApp accounts block karna shuru kar diya hai jo band ya bekaar SIM se jude hue hain. Purani SIM dubara kisi aur ko mil sakti hai, is liye account kisi aur ke haath mein ja sakta hai. Apni SIM check karein aur WhatsApp us number par rakhein jo aap ab use karte hain. Number badla ho to WhatsApp ke number-change option se account naya number par shift kar lein.
