The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) resumed mobile phone services in Karachi after a closure of about 10 hours on Monday. The PTA, acting on the directives of the interior ministry, issued instructions to all mobile phone service providing companies pertaining to the resumption of mobile phone services in the entire city. Earlier, mobile phone services were suspended indefinitely in Karachi whereas blocked phone services were resumed in Lahore during the early hours of Monday. Authorities had earlier blocked cell phone services in Karachi over security concerns and had also issued a notification to ban pillion riding in the city. PTA sources said that mobile phone services were suspended in Karachi at 2 am on Monday over security concerns until further notice, and no schedule was received regarding the resumption of services. The sources added that mobile services would also be blocked along the route of Tahirul Qadri’s long march from Lahore to Islamabad and would only be resumed in the areas which had witnessed the passage of the march. Earlier on Sunday, reports were received that mobile phone services would remain suspended for three hours between 7 pm and 10 pm in Karachi’s Clifton, Defence and II Chundrigar Road areas.
