Eid ‘security’: Cell phone lines to go dead from 6am to 10am today
Cellular services will be suspended in select parts of the country on the first day of Eidul Azha between 6am to 10am, Interior Minister Rehman Malik announced on Friday.
He did not reveal the names of the cities and areas where cellular services will be suspended, saying it was inappropriate to do so at this stage as terrorists could adjust their plans accordingly. “I will be criticised for this, but for me your security is very important… The country is in a state of war,” Malik maintained.
Interior ministry sources, however, revealed that cellular services will be suspended in three major cities in Punjab and Sindh, three areas in the Islamabad Capital Territory and several parts of Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Gilgit-Baltistan. They named Karachi, Rawalpindi, Multan, Sargodha, Quetta and Peshawar among the major cities where the services will be suspended.
Addressing the media, Malik said the decision was based on recommendations from provincial authorities. He added that a high-level committee had also been set up in this regard under the interior secretary’s supervision. The minister said directions have been issued to the interior secretary, Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) and the Ministry of Information Technology.
Providing details, Malik said the Punjab home department had forwarded names of three cities in the province where the services should be suspended. He added that certain earlier proposals also called for blocking the services in all areas of Sindh and Balochistan. The minister claimed he convinced the provincial authorities to limit the suspension of services to few cities and pockets of the two provinces.
Sources said the move was prompted by intelligence reports that suggested al Qaeda, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and some other splinter groups could carry out attack in the aforementioned cities and other areas in the country.
At the press conference in Islamabad, the Interior Minister also criticised Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, saying the latter should “think twice” before making statements about staging protests if the cellular services are suspended.
Cellular services were earlier suspended for security reasons during Eidul Fitr and Youm-e-Ishq-e-Rasool (pbuh). Detractors say the suspension of services create a nuisance for the public and overseas Pakistanis, apart from inflicting massive losses on cellular companies and by extension, the national exchequer.
(WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT BY OUR CORRESPONDENT FROM LAHORE)
Published in The Express Tribune, October 27th, 2012.
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mr minster you have no idea just block cell phone to contoral the peopel of the country
"He did not reveal the names of the cities and areas where cellular services will be suspended, saying it was inappropriate to do so at this stage as terrorists could adjust their plans accordingly"
"They named Karachi, Rawalpindi, Multan, Sargodha, Quetta and Peshawar among the major cities where the services will be suspended."
Pakistan must be the only country in the world capable of doing this. You could perhaps say that it is democracy - the Pakistan way. It seems to be very good at criticising freedom in other countries but seems to be ignorant when it is at home.
This man should be listed in the Guiness book as the most cluless minister.
Rehman Malik, these people you're trying to stop are not stupid. They have millions at their disposal, wont they have improvised by now? I as a normal citizen can tell you that cdma phone service provided by worldcall still works when normal gsm services are blocked.. You and your policies are one big EPIC FAIL!
From 6am to 10am is quite a lean period for the cellular phones user, therefore, suspension of cell phone service should not be matter of inconvenience.
A novel idea. Rehman Malik should be awarded a Tamgha by Awam.