Miscreants relying on Viber and Skype to communicate, says the letter. PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI: A day after it suggested a proposal to ban four instant messaging phone applications including Skype, WhatsApp, Viber and Tango among other communication services, the Sindh government on Friday sent an application to the interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan requesting him to approve the ban, Express News reported.
The application, which has been sent to the interior minister, said that since the targeted operations on miscreants had started in Karachi, the miscreants had started to rely on Viber and other free call and text services for their communication.
The application stated that the services need to be banned for the next three months in order to oversee the completion of the targeted operation.
Earlier, Chaudhry Nisar had said that he was against the ban and had maintained that he was the one who had done away with the tradition of suspending mobile services in the country.
"I will go through the Sindh government’s application in favour of the ban to see how much weight it carries,” he had said.
He had further said that no decision had been taken on the Skype and Viber ban despite the Sindh government announcing its decision to block the respective services earlier.
COMMENTS (17)
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pagal hogaye hain dont know why they are banning :|
@LightBulb:
if facebook is waste of time then don't use it, who are you to decide on my behalf.
is BBM also the part of Ban??? I hope GOP has no power to block this service?!!!!!
@sgrr: Main problem is that the servers of skype, whatsapp, and viber are not in Pakistan, and these companies don't cooperate when it comes to needing some information. In short, only those messaging apps should be allowed which have servers within the country. Period!
we made pakistan to saved urdu and islam but we dumb it both for the sake of English, & Seculerism and now no skype, no computer no television, no electriccity, no justice, no one lang of education, no food, no oppurtunitis whats so ever why we took this PUNGA of dividing india???? and puting in mess millions of muslims in and across the border
nonsense response from MegaBurger on this.
I don't think half of PPP MPAs from Interior Sindh know how to use Skype or Viber, let alone militants from the mountains.
Government officials always looking for easy way out. There never go to the "source" who is send the suicide bomber everyday.
The individuals who made this proposal should present their reasons in detail. Writing a letter is not sufficient to ban a service millions use. The Chief Secretary Sindh is asked to take note and do something... other than smile.
Does that mean that Altaf Bhai would stop his Khitabs or just go back from Skype to Telephone?!
someone continues to make money...
this drama wont end up ,telecomm voice traffic either Gray or white, is the key to generates millions of Rupees in a single day. they wont let people to talk freely , this kind of a freedom restrict them to earn millions of rupees overnight , even transparency international or other relevant agencies wont have the clue to find the corruption source , in other words this is the easiest and secure way for gaining black money and thats how they show up , linked up with national security drama to make profit . for 3 months .. give us one good reason for 3 months .. sindh is going to b singapore on 91st day .. speechless God help us to get rid of such mindless creatures.
Good step, i would've appreciated it more if they had included facebook in the list.....A total wastage of the time of our nation which can hardly bear the consequences. A very justifiable preemptive step indeed.
Internet is doing more damage in totality than these tiny softwares.. so ban Internet..turn the clock back and make Pakistan stone age era.Pity at our thinking..
In technology advanced countries they monitored the activities on these services and then arrest the culprits. Even in our country various runaway gangsters were arrested from Lahore and other parts of the country only with the help of their calls monitoring. So I suggest to encourage these miscreants to use these services, monitor them and arrest them.
@Parvez:
Answer to your question is;
Incompetency and laziness combined.... Plain and simple
You are giving too much credit to both previous and current administration.
When Rehman Malik shut down cell phones.........the talk was that the operators owed 30 billion in tax and were being arm-twisted to negotiate with the ' boss ' for a settlement. How that ended is not publicly known. This time around I wonder what the real story is ??