Mobile services suspension: Interior ministry fails to respond in time

PESHAWAR:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Home and Tribal Affairs department has yet to receive a reply from the interior ministry on whether to suspend cellular networks today and tomorrow (Monday and Tuesday), The Express Tribune has learnt.

According to officials in the Provincial Crisis Management Centre (PCMC), the K-P government had sent a request to the interior ministry on Friday for the suspension of cell phone services on 9th and 10th Muharram.

“We have not received a reply from the federal government as yet,” an official said on Sunday afternoon. He added the provincial government intended to shut down cellular networks to avert the possibility of a militant attack on 9th and 10th Muharram. PCMC officials added the government had already declared Kohat, Peshawar, Hangu and DI Khan “highly sensitive” districts and adopted security measures for the Muharram processions.

According to PCMC officials, they will wait for the interior ministry’s response before it takes any decision on the matter.

A notification issued by the home department on October 17 stated the province has been divided into 26 different zones to maintain law and order during Muharram. Moreover, certain districts had been declared highly sensitive and tight security measures were introduced to keep militancy in check. Some of these areas include Peshawar, Kohat, Hangu, DI Khan, Haripur, Mansehra, Bannu and Tank. Meanwhile, the situation in Nowshera, Mardan, Lakki Marwat, Abbottabad and Chitral districts was declared ‘normal’.

The home department has already imposed a ban on the entry of Afghan refugees into major cities and beefed up security along procession routes. Furthermore, the department has also banned the unnecessary use of loudspeakers.

A special monitoring cell has been established at the home department’s Provincial Crisis Management and Evaluation Centre to monitor the security situation.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2014.