LAHORE - Mobile phone service remained suspended for four to five hours on Monday in different areas of the provincial metropolis especially at and around Allama Iqbal International Airport as part of the security arrangements on arrival of PAT Chief Dr Tahirul Qadri.
There are reports of cellular service suspension in Islamabad and Rawalpindi from 5am to 10am before the diversion of Dr Qadri’s plane from Benazir Bhutto International Airport Islamabad to Lahore.
Sources said that Pakistan Telecommunication Authority directed the cellular companies for service closure on request of the Interior Ministry.
The consumers regretted the method which the government adopted to tackle the security threats and termed it illogical.
“This government continues with the idea of former interior minister Rehman Malik and leave no stone unturned to create problems for common people,” regretted a person standing at Lahore airport. He was not getting signals at the airport and wanted to contact his family in Sahiwal. The consumers faced low signals or fully suspension of the service from 11pm to 2pm particularly.
As Allam Qadri left the airport at around 4pm, the mobile phone service restored but the traffic problems started at almost every important road of Lahore. Long queues of traffic were witnessed from Muslim Town to Jinnah Hospital at East Canal Road and from Thoker Niaz Beg to Doctors’ Hospital at both Canal Road sides. Similarly, there was traffic mess from Kalma Chowk to Faisel Chowk and Campus Pull. Motorists faced problems at Jail Road and adjacent areas.
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