Rifat Mohidin
SRINAGAR: Mobile internet services have been blocked in Kashmir valley following fresh tension over killing of seven protestors by Border Security Force in Ramban district.
Customer care executives of the leading cellular operator, Airtel told FreePress the services were blocked after a ‘government order’and will be restored only when it said so.
“They said the step was due to security reasons,” one Airtel executive, who requested anonymity, said.
However officials could not be reached to confirm if a formal order had 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 third time that authorities have barred mobile internet services in Kashmir this year.
The services were suspended for days following the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and later again when a young man Tahir Sofi was killed by army in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.
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.
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