Mobile broadband services restored

By Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD: The government on Friday reinstated mobile broadband services across the country, bringing an end to a three-day nationwide shutdown.

The move was implemented as a precautionary measure to monitor and prevent real-time instigation through social messaging platforms following the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan in a land graft case.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) in a statement said access to social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube was also being restored in the country.

Analysts said businesses suffered significant losses, reflected by a 50 percent slump in the point-of-sale transactions routed through the country’s main digital payment systems as a result of the suspension of data service,

The Amnesty International termed the shutdown a “clear violation of people’s rights to access information and free expression”.