RIYADH: If you face an emergency during Hajj season and don’t know who to call, just pick up the phone and dial 911: whether you are lost and in need of directions, require help on the road, have a medical emergency, find an animal on the street or highways or have lost your belongings, a team of competent young Saudis are always ready to help.
The National Center for Security Operations at the Saudi Interior Ministry launched its 911 call center just 5 years ago in Makkah, and there are now three other centers in Riyadh, Shargiyah and Madinah.
Workers at the centers speak various languages, including English, French, German, Indonesian and Urdu, the national language of Pakistan.
The service is quick, efficient and extremely useful for anyone with an emergency at this particularly busy time of year as Hajj season kicks off and pilgrims make their way to Makkah for sacred rituals and visits to the holy sites.
The service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with text messages having been sent out to mobile phones saying: “Dear pilgrims, your service is an honor and your security is our duty. Policemen are ready to fulfill your urgent needs on 911.”
The centers are also active on Twitter, updating information on the latest dust storms, highway closings due to car crashes and animal sightings on freeways.
Saudi's 911 call operators will attend pilgrims in Urdu during Hajj
Saudi's 911 call operators will attend pilgrims in Urdu during Hajj
- Multilingual helpline service available 24 hours a day seven days a week, also actively updates information on Twitter
- Round the clock call centers set up in Makkah, Riyadh, Shargiyah and Madinah over last 5 years
‘Pakistan Cyber Force’ group hacks India’s ABP News day after Pakistani channels targeted
- ‘Pakistan Cyber Force’ group hacks India’s ABP News day after Pakistani channels targeted
- Multiple Pakistani news channels were hacked on Sunday, during which broadcasts were interrupted with anti-army messages, local media reported
ISLAMABAD: A group by the name of ‘Pakistan Cyber Force’ on Monday hacked an Indian news channel ABP News to ran pro-Pakistan Army content, state media reported on Monday, a day after multiple Pakistani news channels were also hacked.
Pakistan Cyber Force launched a “retaliatory attack” by hacking Hindi-language news channel ABP News, state broadcaster Radio Pakistan said. It added that excerpts of speeches by Pakistan’s Chief of Defense Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir ran on the Indian news channel as well as other content related to the Pakistan Army.
“Pakistan Cyber Force launched a retaliatory attack on India with slogans of Pakistan Zindabad started echoing on an Indian channel,” Radio Pakistan said.
The development takes place a day after prominent Pakistani news channel, Geo News, was hacked just as its 9 p.m. bulletin was about to begin.
Geo Managing Director Azhar Abbas confirmed the breach on Sunday, saying that the news channel was facing repeated hacking attempts since 24 hours by “unknown elements” trying to disrupt its transmission.
“For some time now, Geo News’ broadcast has been continuously disrupted,” he wrote on X. “The channel’s screen was hacked and an inappropriate message was aired.”
He distanced Geo News from the messages that were displayed on the channel, urging authorities to launch an investigation and hold elements responsible for the breach to account.
Pakistani English news website Express Tribune reported that other than Geo News, other local channels such as ARY News and SAMAA were also hacked. It said messages critical of the Pakistani military and its leadership were displayed during the broadcasts.
“In addition to hijacking broadcasts, several Pakistani news channels’ websites were allegedly used to run Google advertisement campaigns in support of Mossad,” Express Tribune said.
The development takes place as tensions in the Middle East surged on Saturday after the US and Israel launched joint attacks against Iran, killing its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
A wave of cyber-enabled operations took place early Saturday morning alongside the coordinated US-Israel strikes on targets across Iran, international news agency Reuters reported, citing cybersecurity experts and observers.
It said multiple Irani news websites were hacked to display various messages. BadeSaba, an Iranian religious calendar app with more than 5 million downloads, was also hacked and used to display messages telling users, “It’s time for reckoning” and urging armed forces to give up their weapons.
