Hundreds of people in the Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh's Kargil district were able to video call their relatives living outside the snowbound region after 145 days of Internet shutdown as the authorities restored the service but with riders.
“My son who studies in the United States was able to make a video call on Friday. and see me again after four months. It has been a relief,” Masarat Fatima, a Kargil resident, told The Hindu.
Mobile Internet services were stopped in Kargil, immediately after J&K was split into two UTs on August 5.
Haji Asgar Ali Karbalai, who had served as chief executive councillor of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Kargil (LAHDC-K), said, “The lack of Internet impacted students and business community immensely. The prolonged gag is a testimony to the fact that Kargil has opposed the discriminatory move made by the Centre on August 5 and reject it.”
Current LAHDC-K chief executive councillor Feroz Khan told The Hindu that he had appealed to people not to misuse the Internet services. “Kargil has less than 100 fixed broadband connections. Most of the population is dependent on the mobile Internet. Over 20,000 users will heave a sigh of relief in Kargil town after the restoration,” he said.
He, however, asked the security establishment to cite cases of misuse in the past. “It's equally intriguing that why Internet was stopped in first place when there has not been a single case of misuse here. Why was Internet working in Leh and not Kargil?” he said.
Kargil’s influential religious organisations, the Imam Khomeini Memorial Trust (IKMT) and the Islamia School Kargil (ISK), have appealed to people to stay away from controversial remarks online, sources said.
In the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, mobile telephony continues to remain suspended for nearly four months now. Overall, the telecom industry in Kashmir suffers a daily loss of Rs. 2 crore due to calling and data suspension, according to the Cellular Operators Association of India.
The current gag surpassed the previous record of 240 hours in 2016 after militant 'commander' Burhan Muzaffar Wani was killed.
The lack of facility has adversely impacted businesses and students community in the Valley, where even fixed broadband-based Internet remains down.
