Citing “enhanced efforts by Pakistan for recruitment of militants,” the Jammu and Kashmir administration on Monday extended the ban on high-speed mobile Internet till May 11.
In its latest order, the Home Department said there was spurt in militant violence and launch of new outfits. “There were well-founded apprehensions of the field agencies regarding enhanced efforts by Pakistan for recruitment in the ranks as well as infiltration attempts, which heavily depend on high-speed Internet,” the order said.
The Home department said restrictions on the speed was in place “in order to curb uploading, downloading, circulation of provocative videos, guard against rumour-mongering, fake news, prevent the use of encrypted messaging and VOIP services for infiltration and coordinating [militant] activities.”
“ [The measure] is aimed to defeat the nefarious designs from across the border to propagate [militancy],” reads the order.
Mobile Internet was banned in J&K on August 5, 2019. However, 2G speed was restored after the Supreme Court’s direction in January.
