THE restoration of internet and cellular services in Bannu after several days of suspension has brought relief to more than 1.36 million residents of the district. The restrictions were reportedly imposed to facilitate intelligence-based security operations. Every citizen understands that peace and security are the state’s foremost responsibility, and genuine efforts to protect lives deserve appreciation. However, the prolonged shutdown also exposed the heavy cost of blanket communication blackouts.

At a time when the world is investing billions in artificial intelligence (AI), digital economies and remote work, entire communities in Pakistan can be dis-connected from the internet for days at a time. This raises an important question: how can our youth compete globally when access to the digital world itself can disappear overnight?

During such internet blackouts, digital payments fail, supply chains get disrupted, students lose access to online learning, freelancers and remote workers are unable to earn, and emergency communication becomes all but impossible. Recently, many business-owners were forced to travel dozens of kilometres to areas where network coverage was available simply to send text messages, to complete transactions or to communicate with their customers.

Perhaps the greatest hardship was borne by families. Thousands of people from Bannu work abroad and support their loved ones through remittances. During the outage, they had no means of knowing whether their families were safe. The people of Bannu want peace above all else. They have endured decades of conflict, and understand the value of security. Yet, they deserve uninterrupted access to communi-cation, education, healthcare, emergency services and economic opportunities.

Muneeb Khan
Bannu

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2026