Cellular service to remain suspended in Karachi, other Sindh districts

The restriction will remain in place from 1230 PM to 7 PM, says home secretary

Mobile phone services will remain suspended in Karachi and other districts of Sindh to maintain law and order during Ashura on Wednesday, home secretary said.

The service will remain in place from 12:30 PM to 7 PM in Karachi, Larkana, Sukkur, Hyderabad and other sensitive districts of the province, he added.

Earlier on Monday, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) announced that mobile phone service will remain suspended in 42 cities of the country including the federal capital on Muharram 9 and 10.



The order was released after the request of the country’s four provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir to the interior ministry to avoid any untoward incidents during the processions.

Sources in the PTA said that Sindh had requested to suspend the cellular service of the whole province. However, the ministry declined the request and asked them to forward a list of main cities where processions will be taken out.

Meanwhile, about 22,381 police officers, including 389 female police officers, have been deployed in Karachi on Ashura on the directives of Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah regarding the security plan.