KARACHI: Mobile phone, internet and GPRS services will remain suspended on Tuesday (today) in almost all big cities and towns of the country, except Islamabad.

The decision was taken by the federal government on the request of provincial governments in view of security concerns on the occasion of the Chehlum of Imam Hussain being observed on Tuesday, the Ministry of Interior said in a statement on Monday.

It said the ministry had received applications from home departments of all the four provinces and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). It said the duration of the suspension of these services would be according to the timings of mourning processions in different cities.

The cities and towns in Punjab where these restrictions will be effective are Lahore, Nankana Sahib, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Narowal, Rawalpindi, Attock, Jhelum, Sargodha, Khushab, Bhakkar, Toba Tek Singh, Multan, Sahiwal, Okara, Pakpattan and Rahim Yar Khan.

In Sindh, such cities are Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Khairpur, Jacobabad and Shikarpur.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, they are Nowshera, Kohat, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Dera Ismail Khan, Tank and Abbottabad.

Quetta in Balochistan is the city where these services will remain suspended.

In AJK, these services will remained suspended in Muzaffarabad, Bagh, Haveli, Mirpur and Kotli.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2018