Pakistan shut down cell phone service in several major cities Thursday, in what the government calls an attempt to prevent a terror attack. The shutdown came during Ashura, a Shiite Muslim religious holiday on which Sunni extremists have attacked the Shiite minority in the past.
According to Bloomberg, Pakistani officials say 90% of bombs are detonated by cell phones.
Cell phone service was turned off from 8 a.m. through 11 p.m. local time Thursday in 39 cities.
Ashura commemorates the death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson Imam Hussain. On the holiday in 2010, nearly two-dozen people were killed in two attacks in Pakistan.
The central Asian country has used technology crackdowns several times in the past, shutting down Facebook during a Prophet Mohammed caricature contest, Twitter upon later mention of the contest and attempted to ban some 1,600 words from text messages.
Is shutting down communication channels a necessary means to thwart terror, or should service lines remain open under all circumstances? Let us know what you think in the comments.