Rifat Mohidin
SRINAGAR: Mobile internet has been blocked in Kashmir valley following fresh tensions.
On Tuesday a young man died after the Army fired live bullets in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.
Separatist leaders had called for a march to Parigam village, the hometown of a Kashmir scholar, Mudasir Kamran who was found hanging at his hostel room in Hyderabad.
Customer care executives of the leading cellular operator, Airtel say the services were blocked after a ‘government order’.
“Government has ordered to stop the services due to some security reasons,” one Airtel executive told this reporter over phone.
However officials could not be reached to confirm if a formal order has been issued.
Mobile internet of service providers like Reliance and Airtel have been suspended, but the government-run BSNL’s Broadband is working.
This is the second time that the authorities have barred mobile internet services in Kashmir this year.
Last month, the services were suspended for days following the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah then justified the ban on mobile internet services saying the “restrictions were necessary”.
“Main reason to restrict the mobile services is they are the only source to spread rumours,” he had said.
