ISLAMABAD: A long, mysterious breakdown in the city police’s communication system on Tuesday left the police wondering and worrying who did it and why.

A senior police officer told Dawn that Channel 4 of the system, meant for the operation wing of the force, went dead at Iftar time and came back to life by itself at 1am on Wednesday.

“That was very sensitive timing for any shutdown as all police stations, operations and patrol officers and picket staff are supposed to be communicating or checking the security situation in the city at Iftar time,” he said.

But on Tuesday, the shutdown left all the SHOs, SDPOs, SPs and other police supervisory staff deaf and dumb for almost seven hours.

“Not only the blockade badly hampered police work but it also put the security arrangements at risk, as the senior officers were not aware what is happening in the city,” he added.

Some supervisory officers used mobile phones to communicate with field officers. Though no incident happened during the crisis, worries increased as the blackout persisted till after midnight when the system came back to life by itself.

What or who blocked the police communication is yet to be established. One police source said Channel 4 can be blocked simply by pressing the ‘Talk’ button of the wireless set. But the source wondered who will hold that button down intentionally for hours.

“We tried to trace that out but we don’t really have the skill or equipment for that,” he added. Though unique, it was not the first intrusion in the Islamabad police’s communication system.

In December 2013, a person, speaking in the name of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, penetrated the system to announce that “the TTP has planted explosives at 10 sensitive installations”, and challenging the police to avert the disaster if they can, according to a police officer.

The Islamabad police have 11 channels for wireless communications but only seven are operational. They are in the use of the Police Headquarters, offices of the Inspector General of Police, Operations, Security Wing and Diplomatic Protection Department, Traffic Police and the Special Branch.

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2015

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