Exploding Pagers and Walkie-talkies: BTUA Seeks Device Safety Guarantee Measures from TRAI
Moneylife Digital Team 20 September 2024
Amidst the concerns about communication devices, after the waves of remotely triggered explosions that hit pagers and walkie-talkies of Hezbollah members in Lebanon, the Bombay Telephone Users Association (BTUA) has asked the telecom regulatory authority of India (TRAI) to adopt additional safety measures to protect end users. 
 
Achintya Mukherjee from BTUA, in a letter to the chairman of TRAI, says, "Briefly, all companies must be, by law, bound to deliver their products with all safety guarantees. This means that the packaging must be tamper-proof and sold only through company outlets, which are under their complete control and, therefore, accountable."
 
"TRAI must call for a consultation process for laying down this policy along with a consultation paper, within a month," he says.
 
According to Mr Mukherjee, for the safety and transparent decision-making of the Indian consumer in the choice they make when purchasing electronic equipment, whether mobiles or all equipment like hearing aids, Bluetooth pods and even domestic white goods, mainly battery-operated, it becomes imperative that disclosure of the use of technology from Israel should be made compulsory in their products and advertisements.
 
While the exact reason for the explosions in pagers and walkie-talkies is still not known, several media reports are calling it a supply chain attack. The simultaneous explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies in grocery stores, on streets and at a funeral procession made for an eerie and shocking spectacle in Lebanon.
 
Quoting three sources, a report from Reuters says, "The pagers that detonated were the latest model brought in by Hezbollah in recent months."
 
A senior Lebanese security source and another source told Reuters that Israel's Mossad spy agency was responsible for a sophisticated operation to plant a small quantity of explosives inside 5,000 pagers ordered by Hezbollah.
 
One Western security source told Reuters that Unit 8200, a military unit that is not part of the spy agency, was involved in the development stage of the operation against Hezbollah which was over a year in the making.
 
"The source said Unit 8200 was involved in the technical side of testing how they could insert explosive material within the manufacturing process. The Israeli military declined to comment. The prime minister's office that has oversight of Mossad, did not immediately respond to a request for comment," the report says.
 
At least 37 people were killed and more than 3,000 wounded in the two waves of attacks.
 
"State-sponsored terror can be given a body blow when exports from such countries are blockaded by consumers all over," Mr Mukherjee from BTUA says.
 
Comments
Co-location Scandal: SEBI’s Orders Lead to More Questions Than Answers
Sucheta Dalal, 20 September 2024
On 13th September, media headlines said that the market regulator had completely exonerated the former management of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in the co-location (Colo) scam of 2015.  Some speculated that this had cleared the...
The Growing Despair of Accounting Frauds and Audit Failures!
Ranganathan V, 20 September 2024
Accounting firms coming under the hammer of the regulators and being fined bigger and bigger sums for failing to do their principal duty of reporting to the shareholders the frauds and fissures in the financial statements is ceasing...
Audit May Be Easier To Replace than Reform!
Ranganathan V, 20 September 2024
In the Indian context, the record of the audit in situations where it ought to have shown its utility, if not the vitality, can be assessed by looking at the data and examples coming out of the IBC (Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code)...
RBI Imposes Rs50,000 Penalty on Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Sahakari Bank for Loan Sanction Violations
Moneylife Digital Team 20 September 2024
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a penalty of Rs50,000  Penalty on Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Sahakari Bank Ltd from Maharashtra for non-compliance with directions on loans and advances to directors, relatives and firms or...
Array
Free Helpline
Legal Credit
Feedback