Postpaid SMS restored in Kashmir

Srinagar: SMS facility for postpaid customers and internet access in government-run hospitals will resume across the Kashmir Valley from January 1. “SMS facility will be restored from midnight of December 31 in Kashmir, and broadband services in government hospitals will start as well,” J&K administration spokesperson Rohit Kansal told reporters in Jammu.

The SMS services will resume 150 days after government snapped all communication networks on August 5, when J&K's special status was abrogated and the state split into two Union Territories. This government had resumed SMS services on October 14 when post-paid mobile services were restarted. However, they were suspended within a few hours on security concerns.

On December 10, the administration resumed automated SMSes on select networks to enable people to use banking and other services. On December 28, the government resumed mobile Net services in Kargil district of the newly formed Ladakh Union Territory. The SMS service will be restored to around four million postpaid customers in the Valley.

Internet services, both broadband and mobile phones, remain suspended and the network of over 2.5 million pre-paid mobile phones have been snapped since August 5. In a separate interaction with reporters in Jammu, Director General of J&K police Dilbag Singh said only 250 militants were active in the state. Of that, he said, around 150 were local youth, while 102 were from across the border.

Singh said 130 people managed to infiltrate from across the border in 2019, less than in 2018, when 143 people had infiltrated. “218 people joined the terrorists' ranks in 2018, while 139 locals joined this year,” Singh told reporters.