Ahead of 9th and 10th Muharram, Pakistan government have suspended mobile services in 50 services across the country and banned pillion riders.
Islamabad, Nov 24/NationalTurk – Pakistan government has suspended cellphone services in country’s 50 cities for two days beginning Saturday to stop bombings against Shia processions.
The mobile services will remain suspended for 9th (Saturday) and 10th of Muharram (Sunday), which mark a key event in the Islamic religious calendar particularly for Shias.
Muharram marks the anniversary of the battle where the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad was killed.
The cities where services will remain suspended are: Karachi, Khairpur and Larkana in Sindh; Lahore, Multan, Sargodha, Attock, Jhang, Rahimyar Khan, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Bhakkar, Pakpattan, Nankana Sahib, Dera Ghazi Khan and Muzaffargarh in Punjab; Quetta, Kalat, Khuzdar, Turbat, Gwadar, Panjgur, Mastung, Kohlu, Dera Bugti and Hub in Balochistan; Kohat, Ustarzai, Hungo, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, Nowshera, Haripur, Charsadda and Mardan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; Parachinar and Miramshah in Fata; Muzaffarabad, Mirpur, Kotli, Rawalakot, Neelum Valley in Pakistan administered Kashmir, and in Gilgit.
The Pakistan government also enforced a blanket ban on motorbikes in several cities of the country. The government has imposed ban on pillion riding across the country till Sunday. In some cities, the ban has been imposed on plying of motor bikes as well.
Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik while justifying suspension of mobile services and ban on pillion riders said, “In 90 per cent of bombings, mobile SIMs were used to trigger explosive devices. Most recently, all the blasts that occurred in the last 15 days were mobile phone-based, Besides, there had been 468 bomb attacks in which motorcycle were used.”
Pakistan security agencies hope that by suspending mobile services across the country on 9th and 10th Muharram and banning pillion riding, they will be able to prevent militant attacks on Shia mourning processions.
Security officials apprehend that Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan may try to attack Shia mourners.
A suicide bomber killed 23 people and wounded over 60 at a Shia procession in Rawalpindi on Wednesday evening.
Authorities have deployed thousands of extra police men and aerial surveillance is being carried out to monitor Shia processions across the country.
It won’t stop our attacks: Taliban
A spokesman of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed that suspending mobile phone services will not prevent the outfit from carrying out its attacks.
A TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan was quoted by private TV channel as saying that the outfit did not carry out bombings by using cellular phones as detonators. “We do not carry out bombings through mobile phones,” he said.
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Faiz Ahmad / NationalTurk Pakistan News
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