DESPITE strong resentment, residents of twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad continue suffering immensely due to frequent blockades of roads and highways and complete black-out of cellular and Internet services on flimsy grounds and pretexts. It is all the more alarming that all this happens under a well thought out policy of the authorities that rely more on choking the normal life than to take other administrative and political measures to combat the threat of law and order.
There is no denying the fact that security of life is more important than any other consideration but the objective must be achieved without disturbing routine daily activities as is done elsewhere in the world. The Government sealed the two cities and blocked all sorts of connectivity in response to a rally and protest by a religious pressure group against sacrilegious moves in the West. In the first place, one fails to understand what objective the sponsors of the protest wanted to realize when the Government of Pakistan strongly condemned the latest sacrilegious acts in France and raised the issue of Islamophobia at all forums. Prime Minister Imran Khan went a step ahead in writing a detailed letter to heads of state and governments of the Muslim countries urging the need for harmonious strategies to counter discriminatory moves and policies against Islam and its followers. People of Pakistan also lodged strong protests through different means and there is also a campaign to boycott French products. Under these circumstances, that was no justification to organize rallies in a manner and at a scale that threatens the normal life. Secondly, if the religious group was bent upon implementing its plans then the Government should have taken other administrative measures than blocking entire cities as well as mobile and Internet services. We have been emphasizing in these columns that use of mobile and Internet is no luxury but a necessity of modern life and therefore, people must not be deprived of these facilities not for a single moment. The authorities should realize that in the wake of the second wave of Covid-19 most of the people work from home and similarly students attend online classes through the Internet. Stoppage of these services is contrary to the avowed objective of the Government to facilitate all sorts of economic activities in the country. Residents of twin cities are experiencing severe shortage of gas since the onset of winter; there were also electricity breakdowns caused by rains and other issues and blockade of cities and suspension of connectivity services meant pushing people to stone-age.
