Different reactions: In Karachi, cellular services resume after 7-hour suspension

K-P turns down govt’s proposal for suspending cellular services on Friday.

PESHAWAR/ KARACHI:

Mobile phone users suffered through a seven-hour suspension of cell phone networks in Karachi on Friday from 11am to 6pm.

The move was ordered by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) in the wake of a terror threat.

According to an intelligence report, a major act of terrorism was suspected in Karachi, which was expected to be carried out through a cell phone.

Later during the day, Interior Minister Rehman Malik told a meeting that no targeted killing took place in Karachi on Friday due to suspension of mobile service.

However, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government turned down for the second time a federal interior ministry request to suspend the cellular network in Peshawar.

Intelligence reports suggested that militants could carry out sabotage attacks in the provincial capital on Friday.

“Yes, we were asked to suspend cellular network from 10am to 5pm on Friday but it was necessary that the threats and the intelligence information was shared with the provincial government,” said an official of the home and tribal affairs department who wished not to be named.

“Have you (the media) received any report on any terror attack carried out by the militants today (Friday), I am sure no, then why should we suspend cellular networks and jam our information sharing system,” the official said, explaining why the federal government’s proposal had been turned down. Earlier in November, the federal ministry of interior proposed the provincial government suspend the cellular network in the month of Muharram.

The request was denied when police informed the home and tribal affairs department that intelligence agents deployed in different areas of the Peshawar would face problems in sharing information if the service is suspended.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 29^th, 2012.