Mobile, internet services not curtailed in Kashmir for R-Day celebrations

Srinagar: For only the second time in more than a decade, mobile phone and mobile internet services were not disrupted as part of the security drill for Republic Day and Independence Day celebrations in Kashmir.

Mobile phone and mobile internet services were not snapped when the Republic Day parade began at Kashmir's main venue Bakshi Stadium and other district headquarters.

Since 2003, when mobile phones were introduced, it is the second time after January 2015 that mobile phone and internet services have not been curtailed as part of the security drill in the Valley.

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

The authorities have been clamping down on mobile services in times of trouble in Kashmir.

The government had imposed a ban on SMS services in the state following the 2008 Amarnath Land Row agitation, 2010 summer agitation and post hanging of Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru.

During the five-month unrest last year, mobile telephony and mobile internet services were snapped for a long period.

Though most of the services were restored by November 18, the authorities have not yet restored mobile internet services on prepaid connections.