Quetta:
After two weeks of suspension, mobile internet services were restored in Balutchistan on Thursday on the prescriptions of the high court of Balutchistan (BHC).
A division of two BHC judges – including chief judge Rozi Khan Bareech and judge Sardar Ahmad Naeem – ordered Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to restore Internet connectivity through the province.
PTA officials assured court that the services would be fully restored within two hours and that zones without security threats resumed access immediately.
The bench made the ordinance on a constitutional petition filed by the president of the Consumer civil society, Khair Muhammad Shaheen, who argued that mobile internet services were a basic communication mode for businessmen, students, educational establishments and others.
The petitioner also argued that the suspension constituted a violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed under articles 9, 15, 18, 19-A and 25 of the Constitution.
Mobile data services in the volatile province were suspended by the PTA on provincial government orders from August 6 to August 31 for security reasons.
Daily life has been seriously disrupted, students, health professionals, journalists and businessmen complained that closure affected education, health care, routine business.
