Cellular services suspended for Ashura
Starting midnight on Friday, the residents of Sindh are to face partial suspension of mobile networks, after service providers were instructed to shut their towers for security on Muharram 9 and 10.
According to sources, this will not be a blanket suspension. Karachi's Central and South districts will face a complete network shutdown from 12am on Friday to Sunday midnight but West district is to see services suspended from Friday morning until 8pm on Sunday.
Meanwhile, East district was not included in the plan, while areas such as Nishtar Park, Shah Nawaz Bhutto Road, Father James Road, MA Jinnah Road till Capri cinema and Preedy Street up to Parking Plaza, will face service suspension from 11am on Friday to 4pm on Saturday.
There will also be a partial suspension of services along the routes of the Muharram processions in the provincial capital between 7am and 5pm on Saturday and Sunday.
Moreover, Thatta, Sujawal, Hyderabad, Khairpur, Tando Muhammad Khan, Dadu and Jacobabad are among other districts that will face network suspension in their entirety, albeit with different timings. Most of them will face suspension only on Sunday.
Apart from this, many cities of Sindh will also face cellular suspensions with differing timings, with some facing this restriction only on Sunday while others will be offline from Friday to Sunday.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 29th, 2020.