Cellular services suspended in Karachi to avoid terrorism bid

December 28th, 2012 

In order to avert any act of terrorism on final Friday of the year, cellular services have been suspended in Karachi, the metropolis city of Sindh.

Reports said that the cellular service providers had suspended their service after receiving orders from Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).  “All the mobile phone services in Karachi will remain shut from 11am to 6pm,” report said.

The reports further said that the mobile phone services could also be shut in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Wireless service of the Pakistan Telecom Company Limited (PTCL) has also been closed. The PTA has not given any the reason behind the shutting of the cellular service.

Militants in Pakistan often detonate bombs using cell phones and the government has implemented similar service suspensions in the past.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik had said that 90 per cent of the bombs set off by militants in Pakistan have been detonated using cell phones.

Mobile phone services were last suspended in the country on the 9th and 10th of Muharram. The government had decided to suspend the network for varying periods in about 50 cities across the country to provide security to mourners.