2 Months After Shutdown, Postpaid Mobile Services Likely To Resume In Kashmir From Saturday

Mobile and Internet services in Jammu and Kashmir were shut down on August 5 after the Centre announced in New Delhi the abrogation of the special status guaranteed to the state under Article 370 of the Constitution.

A proper verification of customer be undertaken for post-paid mobile services. (File Photo/ Getty)

Srinagar: After a communication blockade for over two months in Jammu and Kashmir post the abrogation of Article 370, post-paid mobile services in the Valley are likely to resume from Saturday, officials told news agency PTI. However, they have also made it clear that the subscribers will have to wait for some more time for the Internet services to resume fully across the Valley. As per the officials, a decision has been taken that post-paid mobile services will be resumed in the beginning and the pre-paid services will be resumed later. The administration has also stressed that a proper verification of customer be undertaken for post-paid mobile services. Altogether, Jammu and Kashmir has around 66 lakh mobile subscribers out of which nearly 40 lakh subscribers have post-paid facilities. The move comes barely two days after the Centre issued an advisory opening the valley for tourists. Travel association bodies had approached the administration, saying that no tourist would like to come to the valley where no mobile phones working. The mobile and Internet services in Jammu and Kashmir were shut down on August 5 after the Centre announced in New Delhi the abrogation of the special status guaranteed to the state under Article 370 of the Constitution. Partial fixed line telephony was resumed in the valley on August 17, and by September 4 all landlines, numbering nearly 50,000, were declared operational. In Jammu, the communication system was restored within days of the blockade and even mobile Internet was started around mid-August. However, after some reports of misuse, the Internet facility on cellular phones was snapped on August 18.

Hours ahead of the revocation of special status to Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, the administration government blocked all the communication means including landline, mobile phones and the Internet services across the Valley triggering massive law and order situation. The government, however, eased restrictions on the communication blockade days after by restoring the landline telephone lines in a phased manner. Following the instruction of Governor Satya Pal Malik earlier this week, the Jammu and Kashmir's Home Department released an advisory dated October 9, lifting the travel ban. "The tourists desirous of undertaking visiting to the state shall be provided all necessary assistance and logistical support," the order says. Several tourists, pilgrims and students from different parts of the country had to leave Jammu and Kashmir early August as the state administration issued a security alert over possible terrorists attacks.