Mobile Internet Restored In Kashmir After Usual Independence Day Blackout

Low speed internet services on mobiles were restored in the Kashmir Valley on Saturday after remaining suspended for several hours as a precautionary measure on the occasion of Independence Day.

Mobile internet was snapped in the early hours of the morning as strict security arrangements were put in place for Independence Day celebrations across the Valley, a police official said.

Though data services were blocked, mobile phone services, which used to be suspended for the duration of the Independence Day ceremony, was not jammed this time, he added.

Internet services were restored later in the day after the end of the official function at Sher-e-Kashmir cricket stadium in Srinagar, the official said.

High speed 4G internet services remains suspended in Jammu and Kahsmir for more than one year now.

Suspension of mobile phone services and internet on cellular devices as part of the security drill in Jammu and Kashmir has become routine since 2005.

Security agencies added this step to the security drill after terrorists triggered a blast outside the Bakshi Stadium during the Independence Day parade in 2005.

Services are also stopped in a district in case of an encounter there to prevent large crowds from gathering near the gunbattle.

Mobile internet services remain throttled in most of Jammu and Kashmir to very slow speeds to stop the spread of misinformation and terrorists from abusing the networks, the administration says. The restrictions have cost hundreds of thousands of jobs and crores in losses to the economy, critics say.

Last year's move by the central government to revoke the state's decades-old special powers listed in the constitution and split it into two union territories was accompanied with the longest internet shutdown in any democracy.

Broadband internet and slow mobile data has been restored in phases since the Supreme Court told off the government earlier this year while hearing cases that called the curbs an assault on free speech and democratic rights.

Earlier this month, the government told the Supreme Court that 4G internet services will be allowed on a trial basis in one district each in Jammu and one in the Kashmir valley after August 15.

The relaxation will not be in any area adjoining the International Border or the Line of Control, the centre told the top court. The areas which will get the 4G internet will be those which have a low intensity of terrorist activities, the centre said.

(With inputs from PTI)