Islamabad. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said on Wednesday that internet services have been suspended indefinitely in the wake of unrest and violent protests across the country.
Confirming this, the Telecom Authority said that the decision to discontinue mobile broadband services has been taken on the instructions of the Ministry of Home Affairs. According to the report of Geo News, a day ago (Tuesday) Internet services have been suspended due to protests that erupted after the arrest of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman and former Prime Minister Imran Khan in the Al-Qadir Trust case. .
Besides this, major social media sites including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have also reportedly been blocked for many users in Pakistan, rendering users unable to access these platforms since yesterday. There has been widespread outrage among activists and supporters. Videos of the unrest and violent protests that followed Mr Khan’s arrest were widely shared on social media platforms, leading to shutdown of mobile broadband services.
PTA spokesperson had said that the regulatory authority was also receiving reports of shutdown of social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. These reports, however, could not be confirmed. Sources told local media that ‘inappropriate’ clips of the protests were shared on social media, following which various platforms faced disruption around 8 pm last night, causing Civilians have also faced a lot of problems.
It may be noted that Mr Khan was arrested yesterday from the Islamabad High Court premises by Rangers in connection with a warrant issued by the National Accountability Bureau in the Al-Qadir Trust case. Following the arrest of the former prime minister, PTI called upon supporters across the country to protest and block all roads, shut down all shops. Following this, PTI workers staged massive protests in several cities including Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Karachi, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Multan, Peshawar and Mardan. Protesters also damaged public property in other cities including Rawalpindi and Lahore.
Inputs From: Asianet News Hindi
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