Blocking contact: Cell-phones go silent in major cities

Cellular services were suspended in 80 cities across the country.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Thursday suspended the cellular services in as a many as 80 cities across the country as a vital security measure for the mourning processions.

Even in Islamabad, the cellular networks remained partially suspended in a number of sectors where imambargahs are located.

In Punjab, the cellular service remained blocked in many cities, including the provincial capital Lahore as well as  Gujranwala, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Sahiwal, Muzaffargarh, Khanewal, Multan and Rahim Yar Khan. In Chichawatni, wireless service and internet were also shut down in addition to mobile network.

According to the PTA sources, cellular network was suspended at the request of Sindh government in many important cities such as Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana and Mirpurkhas, Khairpur and Kotri.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s major cities – Peshawar, Kohat, Hangu, D I Khan and Haripur – had a complete closure of cellular network. It was suspend partially in Bannu.

Balochistan, where the mobile phone services continued to operate throughout the day, was an exception.

Reportedly, services remained suspended in most cities till the filing of this report.


Published in The Express Tribune, November 15^th, 2013.