| Militants order cellular operators to halt services or face consequences | | After north, mobile phones go 'dead' in south Kashmir | | Javaid Naikoo
Early Times Report
Srinagar, May 31: After private cellular services were shut down in north Kashmir following attacks by militants on operators, all cellular services, barring BSNL, have been downed shutters in south Kashmir too.
Reports said posters by an unknown militant outfit 'Lashkar-i-Islam' appeared in many parts of the south, threatening the operators to wind up or face the consequences.
Various telecommunication operators of south Kashmir which include Reliance, Airtel, Idea, Vodafone have closed down their services from Saturday.
"After threatening posters appeared in Pampore area of Pulwama, all members of our association decided to wind up services. We fear to take security because it is likely that militants will attack our families as they did in north Kashmir. So better is to wind up services till the dust settles, " an operator told Early Times on the condition of anonymity.
Thousands of youth are working with private cellular companies as market executives, salesmen, distributors, and retailers. Besides, most of the public and private sectors which include banks, post offices, business units and ATMs are completely dependent on internet services provided by the cellular services.
People said that in case government did not take concrete measures to provide security to the operators, not only will the situation add to prevailing massive unemployment ratio but it will also drag Kashmir to dark ages.
Pertinently, no attack has been so far carried on cellular operators in any part of south Kashmir. However, operators have themselves shut down the services.
Despite assurance from Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed that he will look into the matter and make cellular services functional at any cost, unidentified persons on Saturday targeted a police wireless tower and Airtel tower adjacent to it at Handwara in north Kashmir's Kupwara district. Locals of the area said that wireless tower was attacked around 9:00 pm while the Airtel tower was attacked few minutes after it and the twin blasts created panic in the area, thereby forcing operators to leave their stations within minutes amid chaos. |
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