Srinagar
Internet services on Tuesday continue to remain snapped for consecutive third day in Kashmir. The ban on internet was imposed by the government on April 9 for ‘security’ reasons as by-polls were held for Srinagar parliamentary seat. All the networks including mobile landline and lease-lines remained out of service.
The ban on internet was prolonged after clashes between protesters and forces near polling booths resulted in the killing of eight civilians and left more than one hundred injured.
The ban on internet has severely affected day-to-day communication in Kashmir. The worst hit of the ban is media in Kashmir as services, unlike past were completely cut from polling day itself.
“The ban on internet was imposed to control the situation as rumors are otherwise spread on the internet,” a senior police official said.
However, the official failed to give any reason why media organisations were also made to suffer because of the internet ban. “It was difficult to file stories and send photographs as lease lines serving media houses were also snapped.”
Last year, phone and internet service were snapped for nearly four months after Burhan Wani’s killing on July 8.
Meanwhile, some services including the lines of media houses were restored on Tuesday later afternoon but social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter have been blocked. This is for first time that these websites have been banned.
