CEC Sultan Raja says he won't direct interior ministry to restore cellular services

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja said on Thursday that the Election Commission of Pakistan will not direct the interior ministry about restoring the mobile phone and internet services.

Speaking outside the ECP, Raja wished to wrap up of election process peacefully but refused to direct the Interior ministry on their decision to shut down mobile phone services and said: "Who will be responsible if an incident of terrorism happens after restoring?" 

He said law enforcement agencies are reviewing and probing into the incidents of terrorism that happened yesterday in Balochistan and Karachi. 

In the post on X by NetBlocks, said that the internet service is partially suspended in the context of the general elections in the country, complaints have been received from citizens that they are facing problems with the internet service shutdown.

⚠ Confirmed: Live network data show a disruption to mobile internet in #Pakistan with high impact to second-largest operator Zong, corroborating widespread user reports of outages; the incident comes as polls open on election day 📵 #PakistanElection2024 pic.twitter.com/XWIyU1BKvO

— NetBlocks (@netblocks) February 8, 2024

Due to the suspension of mobile and internet services, voters have to face trouble finding their polling stations as the ECP’s service 8300 is also affected by the interruption.