QUETTA: The Balochistan High Court (BHC) on Friday directed the provincial government to review its blanket suspension of mobile and data services and to immediately restore public transport, which had been suspended across the province for security reasons.

A two-judge bench of BHC, comprising Chief Justice Rozi Khan Barrech and Justice Sardar Ahmad Halimi, issued the directives while hearing a petition challenging the government’s shutdown orders.

The petition was filed by Khair Muhammad Shaheen, chairman of the Balochistan Consumer Civil Society.

The Additional Chief Secretary for Home Muhammad Hamza Shafqat informed the court that public transport services were temporarily suspended.

The court found this justification for halting public transport services to be unreasonable and ordered the immediate withdrawal of the suspension order.

Regarding the mobile network shutdown, scheduled to last until Aug 31, the court instructed the government to reconsider its province-wide ban. The bench directed officials to restore services in all areas where specific security threats do not exist.

During the hearing, additional chief Secretary (home) and Advo­cate General (AG) Adnan Basharat acknowledged that security threats were concentrated in certain areas, not the entire province.

The hearing was adjourned until Aug 21.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2025