Government suspends Internet Services in 3 districts of Balochistan

The government of Pakistan has temporarily suspended the internet services i.e. wireless data services, 3G, 4G/LTE, GPRS of Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) and PTCL in the district Chaman, Pashin and Qila Abdullah of Balochistan.

The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications (MOIT) has disclosed that Wireless Data services i.e. 3G, 4G/ UTE, GPRS of CMOs and PTCL of the above-mentioned districts will remain suspended until an indefinite period of time.

These services are stopped with the consent of Law Enforcement Agency (LEA) in accordance with some unknown security reasons. However, the authorities are not certain about the exact date of the restoration of these services.

It must be noted that Senates Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication has shown deep concerns over the suspension of cellular networks in Mohmand Agency, FATA, and suspension of the internet services in the area, a few days back.

PTA responded to the query, that MOIT had issued the Policy Directive dated 26th December 2009 regarding “Closure of Telecom Services due to National Security Concerns” which authorizes designated institutions to follow closure requests.

PTA had received the request for the closure of services and has directed respective operators to implement the orders in specific areas.

Following the directives of the Ministry of Interior (MOI), only Internet/Wireless data services 3G/4G, GPRS of Cellular Mobile Operators CMOs and PTCL are closed in complete FATA region to prohibit this facility from the reach of terrorists since 14th June 2016 and will remain closed till further orders.

Moreover, on the instructions of Armed Forces, all mobile services, operating in Mohmand Agency, are closed since 15th March 2017 because of an ongoing military operation.

Chairman PTA Ismail Shah said that the cross-border signal issue has been raised with Afghanistan through Foreign Office. He further added that jammers are not the proper solution to the resolve these problems.