Internet services fully restored in J&K

“The political environment in Jammu and Kashmir was never as frightening as it under the present regime of the opportunists BJP and PDP as they have spread an atmosphere of uncertainty”, Vice President JKPCC Sham Lal Sharma said today.

Former chief minister Omar Abdullah welcomed the resumption of services with a sarcastic “Internet Mubarak” remark on Twitter.

They said that such a move was unthinkable in this age of information technology and at a time when the PM was visiting Silicon Valley in the US.

Apart from blocking internet services, authorities detained or put under house arrest many of these leaders and their cadre.

The online businesses such as travel bookings, software developing institutions and hotels incurred heavy losses while trucks carrying goods to Kashmir remained stranded at Lakhanpur toll plaza for want of online bills necessary for importing stocks to Kashmir, the KEA Chairman deplored.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi took his “Digital India” initiative to the Silicon Valley with much fanfare, netizens used the occasion to mock at his government for curtailing internet services in Kashmir Valley on Eid.

Nasir Ahmad, a doctor who was in the valley for Eid, said he was forced to pay extra for an air ticket.

“The separatists were barred from offering prayers, internet was banned”.

The decision was taken in the backdrop of the Jammu High Court ruling criminalising bovine slaughtering in the state, which was protested widely by Muslims.

The separatists and religious groups had termed the ban as interference in religious affairs of Muslims and asked people to defy the court order.

During a widespread street agitation in 2001, mobile internet was restricted but that did not affect landline broadband services. He added that had there not been a blanket ban on Internet services, anti-social and anti-national elements and other vested interests could create a situation which might have led to communal clashes.

Besides ban on internet, police has also warned of legal action under the various provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prev) Act 1967, the Information Technology Act and Ranbir Penal Code against the person for sharing or uploading “malicious rumours” with an intention to spark communal tension in the state. “Anyone who forwards such messages (including audio, photos or videos) to other individuals or groups shall be liable for legal action under the law”.