Advisor to Lt Governor Farooq Ahmad Khan has said suspension of the facility as a precautionary measure has helped to stop rumours and save lives

Admitting that media persons had to face difficulties without internet service in the Kashmir valley, Advisor to Lt Governor Farooq Ahmad Khan said: "Suspension of the facility done as a precautionary measure has helped to stop rumours and save lives."

However, he said, the situation is fast returning to normal and internet facilities will be resumed soon.

“Internet facilities will be restored soon and everybody will came to know when it will start”, Mr Khan told reporters on the sideline of a function here today.

When a reporters said that since winter has already set in and how long we have to suffer, the advisor said is winter has to do anything with internet, “I never realise it.”

When insisted to give some timeframe, Khan said “I can understand your difficulties and I am thankful to media community for bearing it so far.”

He said under normal circumstances we would have never ever stopped the service. But, he said you all know the circumstances when we stopped the service due to which there was no social media available to spread messages of hate, separatism terrorism and we succeeded in that. Today we can proudly said that this was the reasons that not a single life was lost.

“People had to bear difficulties and this is one of those”, he said adding the internet facility will be restored soon.

All communication network was suspended in the Kashmir valley on August 4 night, hours before centre scrapped Article 370, 35 A and downgraded the state and divided it into two Union Territories (UT).

However, broadband and mobile phones were restored in Jammu and Ladakh after about a fortnight.

Landline phones were restored after about a month and post paid mobile phones after two months.

The internet service of all Cellular companies, including Broadband of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and pre paid mobile service remained suspended, badly hitting journalists, students, traders, those associated with tourism industry and professionals.

He said the mainstream leaders who have been undergoing detention since August 5 will be released soon and they would not be kept under confinement forever. He said motive behind suspending the internet services across Jammu and Kashmir has been achieved and that no timeframe has been fixed for restoring the services in the J&K UT.

“We understand your (media persons) difficulties and I am thankful the media community which have been bearing it so far. Under normal circumstances, we would have never ever stopped such services, but you all know the circumstances were such that we stopped the services to ensure that there is no social media platform to stop messages of hate, terrorism and separatism and we succeeded in it. That is the reason that we can proudly say that not even a single life has been lost post August 5,” he said.

He added that people had to bear certain difficulties and internet suspension was one of those. “I assure you that the situation is becoming normal very fast and the day wouldn’t be far when the internet will be restored,” he said, adding that “motive behind suspending the internet services has been achieved.”

Khan while replying to the query about sufferings of media men said that “media is not only sufferer but everyone is suffering. We will restore the service soon. One cannot fix time in this regard, but the situation is being analyzed regularly and following a decision will be taken.”

(Courtesy: Kashmir Life)

Kashmir Life