Mobile phone services are suspended. — Photo by Online

KARACHI: Mobile phone services were suspended in several cities and districts of the country on Thursday, in line with the government's security plan for Chehlum announced a day earlier, DawnNews reported.

The services of all cellphone companies would resume at 11pm today.

The cities and towns where the service were blocked included Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Multan, Sargodha, Bahawalpur, Hyderabad, Dera Ismail Khan and Bannu.

The service was suspended in 18 districts of Punjab, nine in Balochistan and six each in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The Interior Ministry had announced that the services of v-ptcl and other wireless phone services will also be suspended in sensitive areas of the country including Karachi, Lahore and Quetta.

Earlier this week, the Sindh government had placed a ban on pillion riding and on display of arms, in the province from sunset on December 31, 2012 till midnight January 3, 2013 to maintain law and order situation.