Pakistan to temporarily shut mobile service

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik has hinted that mobile service would be temporarily shut to thwart any terror attack on the occasion of Muslim festival of Eid to be celebrated on Monday.

He told reporters here that there is a threat of terror attacks in the port city of Karachi, the eastern city of Lahore and Multan in Punjab.

A state-run TV channel quoted him as saying that a high level meeting on Sunday decided to block the mobile service to frustrate any attacks by terrorists in congregations on the Eid days.

Malik said that the mobile service would not be suspended in the whole country but only in sensitive areas for few hours.

He said the Punjab and Sindh provinces have requested the federal government to suspend mobile service in sensitive areas during Eid.

Local media has also reported that in an attempt to ensure security during the celebrations of Eidul Fitr, cellular service providers in Pakistan have been told by the Ministry of Interior that they may be asked to immediately stop services in certain areas of the country between Sunday to Monday.

According to a letter issued by the ministry's National Crisis Management Cell to the CEOs of the companies, the authority aims to cut off communication capabilities of miscreants and terrorists to foil their plans.

The companies have been alerted beforehand so that action can be taken promptly, the letter stated.

Earlier the Government of Balochistan had blocked cell phone services in Quetta and its surrounding areas on Independence Day in light of the security situation in the province.

Officials say that militants during attacks have always used mobile phone calls from their planners.

A mobile phone was found with the militants who attacked the country's key airbase at the town of Kamra on Thursday.