home
in select parts of the
country on the first day of
Eidul Azha between 6am
to 10am, Interior Minister
Rehman Malik announced on Friday. He did not reveal the names of
the cities and areas where
cellular services will be
suspended, saying it was
inappropriate to do so at this
stage as terrorists could adjust their plans accordingly. "I will
be criticised for this, but for
me your security is very
important… The country is in a
state of war," Malik
maintained. Interior ministry sources,
however, revealed that
cellular services will be
suspended in three major
cities in Punjab and Sindh,
three areas in the Islamabad Capital Territory and several
parts of Balochistan, Khyber-
Pakhtunkhwa, Federally
Administered Tribal Areas and
Gilgit-Baltistan. They named
Karachi, Rawalpindi, Multan, Sargodha, Quetta and
Peshawar among the major
cities where the services will
be suspended. Addressing the media, Malik
said the decision was based on
recommendations from
provincial authorities. He
added that a high-level
committee had also been set up in this regard under the
interior secretary's
supervision. The minister said
directions have been issued to
the interior secretary,
Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) and the Ministry of
Information Technology. Providing details, Malik said
the Punjab home department
had forwarded names of
three cities in the province
where the services should be
suspended. He added that certain earlier proposals also
called for blocking the services
in all areas of Sindh and
Balochistan. The minister
claimed he convinced the
provincial authorities to limit the suspension of services to
few cities and pockets of the
two provinces. Sources said the move was
prompted by intelligence
reports that suggested al
Qaeda, Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan and some other
splinter groups could carry out attack in the
aforementioned cities and
other areas in the country. At the press conference in
Islamabad, the Interior
Minister also criticised Punjab
Law Minister Rana Sanaullah,
saying the latter should
"think twice" before making statements about staging
protests if the cellular services
are suspended.
Cellular services were earlier
suspended for security
reasons during Eidul Fitr and Youm-e-Ishq-e-Rasool (pbuh).
Detractors say the suspension
of services create a nuisance
for the public and overseas
Pakistanis, apart from
inflicting massive losses on cellular companies and by
extension, the national
exchequer . (WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT BY
OUR CORRESPONDENT FROM
LAHORE)
Published in The Express Tribune, October 27th, 2012
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