The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Home and Tribal Affairs department has suspended cellular networks in sensitive areas of the provincial capital besides other districts, including DI Khan, Kohat and Hangu, to prevent any untoward incident during the ninth of Muharram.
According to officials at the home department’s crisis management centre, K-P police requested the home department to suspend cellular services in sensitive areas, following which networks were temporarily blocked in cantonment areas, interior city, Gulbahar and GT Road.
“Following the Wagah border incident, security has been further tightened despite the fact that we are already on red alert,” an official of the home department’s crisis management cell told The Express Tribune on Monday. He added suspending cellular networks was a must to disband the communication system.
Cellular networks were suspended early Monday morning following a high-level meeting at the crisis management cell, said an official who requested anonymity, saying he was not entitled to talk to the media.
When approached, Secretary Home and Tribal Affairs Syed Akhtar Ali Shah said all officials were present at the crisis management cell and were monitoring the situation across the province. He added law-enforcement agencies had adopted all possible procedures to maintain law and order in Muharram, particularly the ninth and 10th.
“Besides other steps, we decided to suspend cellular network for two reasons: to disband the communication system and remote[ly-controlled] devices,” said Shah, alluding to bombs triggered by cell phones.
Officials at the crisis management cell claimed they had sent a request to the interior ministry on Friday for the suspension of cell phone services on the ninth and 10th of Muharram, but the federal government had failed to respond until Sunday.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 4th, 2014.
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