ALREADY nervous about what the day would bring, citizens found yesterday that the state, too, had done its bit to disrupt life as far as possible. Cellular networks were suspended; those who do not have access to landlines — and there are many such people — found that they were cut off from family, friends and colleagues. This on a day when the streets in many areas were filled with smoke and television screens with frightening images of enraged mobs attacking indiscriminate targets. Many would have been concerned for the safety of loved ones but they had been rendered incommunicado.

This is not the first time the government has resorted to taking such an enormously disruptive step. On the eve of Eid, cellphone users found services inexplicably suspended. The government had cited a potential terrorist threat as the reason — militants too use the technology to their own advantage. Nevertheless, that does not mean that the rulers can arrogate to themselves the right to arbitrarily and without warning cut off access to indispensable devices. Given the sort of violence that occurred in Peshawar, Islamabad, Karachi and elsewhere yesterday, it seems that the move proved futile as it failed to prevent protesters from communicating. And it would be useful for the government to remember that in earlier decades, when there was no cellular technology, the country had seen much larger and more violent demonstrations. The good such a step may achieve is eclipsed by the very serious inconvenience it causes several million people. Beyond inconvenience, there is the aspect of the huge monetary losses that were incurred by various businesses, not the least of which are cellphone companies themselves. Such a decision should be a last resort, or else it will set a dangerous precedent. Will citizens start losing cellular services whenever a large protest is in the offing? If it goes down this road again, the government will find itself treading an increasingly fraught path; the line between when it is and is not reasonable to take such a stringent step will be blurred to the point of being erased.