Ban on internet services in Jammu and Kashmir extended

SRINAGAR: The ban on internet services in Jammu and Kashmir was today extended as a precautionary measure in view of apprehensions of misuse of the services by miscreants to create communal tension.

"The ban on internet services has been extended as a precautionary measure. The broadband services will now resume at 8 pm today while the mobile internet services at 10 am tomorrow," Inspector General of Police (Kashmir) S J M Gillani told PTI.

Similar instructions were issued to mobile operators in Jammu region.

This is the second extension of the ban which was first imposed on the morning of Eid-ul-Azha on Friday.

The state government had ordered termination of data services from 5 am on Friday till 10 pm on Saturday, which was extended till 2 pm today.

The directive by police to all service providers, on the eve of Eid, came amidst the controversy over beef ban.

In the order, Gillani had directed the service providers to snap all data services.

Reacting to this development, former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said, "the irony of listening to Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi lecturing about connected digital India while we are totally disconnected."

"The PDP-BJP regime is pushing people of the state to the wall," he said.