Except in central Kashmir’s Srinagar and Budgam, mobile internet connectivity was restored at around 7 PM in all districts.
SRINAGAR — Authorities in Jammu and Kashmir said on Monday that mobile internet connections in Kashmir areas will be restored by the evening. However, they stated that the services in Srinagar and Budgam areas will remain curtailed.
Mobile internet connections would be restored at approximately 7 PM in all districts except central Kashmir’s Srinagar and Budgam, according to an unnamed top police officer quoted by a local news agency.
As per the sources, the authorities will assess if mobile internet services in Srinagar and Budgam districts can be restored on Tuesday.
Mobile internet services restored
It was after four days that the mobile internet services started to work again in the valley, as the services were halted after the death of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
Mobile internet users in the valley picked up their phones to communicate with their friends and log in to online games as soon as the services were restored.
Mobile internet shutdown a recurring measure
Shutting down internet, both mobile and broadband, is a recurring measure that the local police uses to thwart any attempts by ‘anti-social’ elements to ‘forment trouble’.
When the Indian Parliament repealed Article 370 of the Constitution on the evening of August 4, 2019, an internet blackout was implemented. This was not only India’s but world’s longest internet shutdown, spanning for 552 days. It finally ended on February 06, 2021.
Soon afterwards, the Presidential order number 272, dated August 5, 2019, was issued with the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh formed from the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
It is pertinent to mention here that the second longest shutdown was enforced in the same region earlier in 2016 after an unrest was sparked by the killing of Burhan Wani in July 2016.
Mobile internet services were turned down for a period of 133 days. Postpaid customers’ internet services were restored in November 2016, while prepaid users’ services were restored in January 2017.
