The national election in Pakistan started on Thursday, and the interior ministry stated that mobile phone services had been suspended to strengthen security
The interior ministry said in a message on X, “As a result of the recent incidents of terrorism in the country precious lives have been lost, security measures are essential to maintain the law and order situation and deal with possible threats, hence the temporary suspension of mobile services across the country.”
The decision made by the government comes amid a rise in terrorist attacks coming up to the election and a day after jailed ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan asked his supporters to remain outside polling booths after voting until the results were announced. On Wednesday, two bombs exploded near polling offices in the southwestern region of Balochistan, killing 26.
In a message posted on its Telegram channel, the Islamic State took responsibility for the blasts. Numerous other groups, such as the separatist Baloch militants and the Islamist Pakistani Taliban (TTP), are opposed to the Pakistani state and have launched attacks in the past few months. Thousands of troops and paramilitary soldiers are on duty across the nation, including at voting stations. Pakistan likewise said that, for security reasons, it was closing its borders with Afghanistan and Iran for the day.