KARACHI, Oct 10: Just when the entire population of the city was banking on newly opened news channels to provide them with the latest update on the elections, some cable channels switched off their networks complaining that they had been compelled to take this step by the highhandedness of a dominant political group.

Residents of Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Gulshan-i-Iqbal and North Nazimabad told Dawn that their cable operators had informed them that some hooligans allegedly belonging to a political party had asked them to switch off their networks or face the consequences.

When contacted, a cable operator of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, who did not want to be named, said that some activists had taken exception to the government order prohibiting showing of speeches by political leaders through the cable network. The activists said if the government did not allow them to show speeches of their leaders, they would not let anybody run the cable network at all.

All Pakistan Terrestrial Cable Operators Association general secretary Ahsan Ali said he was not aware of any such development.

The president of the All Pakistan Terrestrial Cable Operators Association, Hanif Ghani, had told Dawn on Wednesday that according to a notification issued by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority action would be taken against all those cable operators who showed speeches of political leaders through their cable networks.

Some callers told Dawn that in their areas the cable network had been off since Wednesday night.