In a chilling incident that took place on 8th Sep 2022 at Johar Town Lahore, StormFiber teams working on-site were allegedly beaten up and shot at by the area’s local cable operator mafia.
According to ProPakistani sources at StormFiber (a division of Cybernet) a gang of trigger-happy cable operators opened fire on at least two of the team members.
“We were doing repair works on our cables and equipment that the local cable operators had deliberately damaged when a group of cable operators came and asked if we were from StormFiber,” shared one of the incident’s victims.
“As we confirmed, they started beating us up. We tried to run away and call up our team leads. By the time the team leads came, more cable operators joined their gang and opened fire at our leads’ legs – fortunately no one was hurt,” he added.
According to reports, the StormFiber team reported the incident on 15 and an online complaint was also made.
A Repeat Occurrence
ProPakistani also learned that StormFiber’s fiber infrastructure and networking equipment are deliberately damaged regularly by the local cable operator mafia of Lahore.
This is not a one-time or an isolated incident, but rather a repeat event that aims to hinder the company from delivering fiber broadband services to the customers.
“We’re a licensed service provider in the city and are shocked and appalled by how this mafia is able to fearlessly threaten our lives and hinder our work,” an employee added
According to him, another horrific incident took place last Ramzan in TNT Society, where these cable operators fired straight for 35 minutes at the StormFiber team that was performing routine repair work.
“We were lucky to escape unhurt and save our lives,” an employee that was part of the team told ProPakistani.
The Problem is City-Wide
It’s not just a problem of one or two areas only, says our source at the company.
Some of the areas most affected by the cable operator mafia include Johar Town, PIA Housing Society, Punjab Housing Society Phase 2, TNT Employees Cooperative Housing Society, Raiwind Road, Sabzazar Housing Society, Mustafa Town, Jubilee Town, and more.
This mafia is not only threatening the existence of licensed broadband operators in Lahore, but is also posing grave danger to the lives of their valued employees, who now feel completely unsafe while doing their everyday work to ensure seamless connectivity to our customers.
Support from Law Enforcement
StormFiber says that it has requested support from the local law enforcement agencies for their predicament. The company says it pays 19.5% in taxes to the provincial govt., 15% advance tax to the federal government, not to mention other licensing fees.
The company hopes that the culprits involved are held accountable.
“We’re not doing business only; we’re providing livelihood to hundreds of families in Lahore while pushing the national agenda of digitalization at the same time,” a StormFiber official told ProPakistani.
“It is becoming increasingly difficult to operate in such conditions, but we assure our valued customers that we will not be discouraged by such acts and continue to provide services,” he added.
He also informed that the company would not relent in pursuing legal action against perpetrators who threaten the lives of its team members or sabotage our infrastructure.
“Pakistan has ambitions like Knowledge Economy, Digital Pakistan, Fiberization, etc., which we are contributing to; but to continue this pursuit, support from law enforcement agencies is critical,” he stressed.
Hopes from PTA and PEMRA
The company has also requested assistance from PTA and PEMRA and is looking forward for concrete action from them.
“We hope that our call for meaningful intervention reaches the right quarters, and those responsible for continuously threatening the existence of StormFiber and assaulting our team members are taken to task so that StormFiber can continue enhancing connectivity of our customers in Lahore,” another StormFiber official said.
bhout acha hoa, humaray area mai nahi lagatay fiber strom walay. aur jao johar town, model town hmmm.
Twoide area vich ve cable mafia honge. Is leye voh nahi ate
Teri cos me lund bc
tere jaisay chutiyon ko aag laga dena chahiye
yah kaisa tumhara rawaya hai? kiya in ko goli lagni chahiye agar tumhare area per nahi lagayee? kiya yeh in worker ke haath mein hai ya top managers ke haath mein ye decision hai?
kaise musliman ho – tumhare bhai ko koi goli mare tum yahi kaho ke acha hua ha – lakh ki lanat hai tumhare jaise manhoos logon per.. isi wajah se pakistan taraqi nahi karta – nafs aur apni selfish interest –
Thumbs up for you
pta should ban copper cable it will reduce the import bill and this kind of tactics
Storm fiber is a mafia. Not cable wlaas. 52 cities are dug inside out by storm fiber