All four provincial government of Pakistan including Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and Punjab have requested federal government to block mobile and cellular networks on 9th & 10th Muharram.
Federal government and provinces have already issued notification declaring 9th & 10th Muharram as public holidays which are corresponding with 20th and 21st September.
If request is accepted then cellular networks will not be available on Thursday and Friday.
Strict security plan have been prepared to provide security to the Ashora processions in all parts of the country but provinces have also requested to suspend the mobile networks in major cities.
It is not the first time that any such request have been made by provinces. Blocking cellular network has become part of the security measures in the country. In Muharram the network is suspended in major cities in 2016 the network were closed in more than 52 cities across Pakistan.
It is expected that in 2018 major cities will face a halt in mobile services including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Sukkur , Hyderabad, Multan, Quetta, Faisalabad and other cities of Pakistan.
The suspension in networks causes huge losses for the telecom companies but due to security concerns they have been forced to accept the closure.