QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) -Pakistan has suspended cell phone data services for three weeks in the restive southwestern province of Balochistan in a bid to block communications among separatist insurgents behind a surge in recent attacks, an official and the government said.
Separatist militants demanding a bigger share of profits from the resources of the mineral-rich province have stepped up attacks in recent months, particularly on Pakistan’s military, which has launched an intelligence-based offensive against them.
In an order on Wednesday seen by Reuters, the government said the services would be suspended until the end of the month because of the law and order situation in the province, home to key Chinese Belt and Road projects.
“The service has been suspended because they (militants) use it for coordination and sharing information,” Shahid Rind, a spokesperson for the provincial government, said on Friday.
Officials said there are 8.5 million cell phone subscribers in Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by size, which borders Afghanistan and Iran. But it is thinly populated, with just 15 million from a national population of 240 million.
The news follows Pakistan’s ban on road travel to Iran late last month, citing security threats.
The insurgency by the separatists, who accuse Pakistan’s government of depriving them of their share in regional resources, has roiled the province for decades.
They primarily attack Pakistani military or Chinese nationals and their interests, but have recently started targeting senior army officers.
The military said an officer and two soldiers were killed in a roadside blast set off by the militants on Tuesday.
The attack targeting a vehicle was claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the strongest of the area’s insurgent groups, which has also claimed responsibility for several attacks on senior officers in recent weeks.
The region is home to the Gwadar Port, built by Beijing as part of a $65-billion investment in Pakistan in the Belt and Road programme designed to expand China’s global reach.
Islamabad accuses arch-rival India of funding and backing the insurgents in a bid to stoke instability, as Pakistan seeks international investments in the region, a charge New Delhi denies.
In March, the BLA blew up a railway track and took hostage more than 400 train passengers in an attack that killed 31, including 23 soldiers.
(Writing by Asif Shahzad; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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