Eid-ul-Azha: Mobile internet services to be banned in J-K

SRINAGAR — Not willing to take any chances on Eid-ul-Azha, the administration is likely to block mobile internet services in the state for a few days starting from Thursday night.

Sources say that there was almost total unanimity on the issue of blocking mobile internet services during the security review meeting called by the Director General of Police K Rajendra in Srinagar on Monday night.

During the meeting attended by the security agencies, both State and Center, the use of social media during Eid celebrations was widely discussed and it was agreed that pictures and videos of the slaughtering of cows – considered inevitable in Kashmir – would lead to incitement of communal passions across the state and even the country.

“We all agreed that people would be posting all sorts of pictures and videos on Facebook and Twitter. At one level going strictly by law, the act of bovine slaughter is contempt of court, but what we are more worried about is the implication of these pictures. So we have decided to clamp down the internet,” said a senior J&K Police officer.

Top official sources said that the state government was not as worried about the situation in Kashmir as it was about Jammu, especially in the areas with a good percentage of both Hindu and Muslim population, Kashmir Monitor reported earlier today.

“Some areas in Jammu region are more vulnerable and we do not want to take any chances and as such avoid any possibility of communal disharmony,” Police sources said.

They further said that the government is contemplating involving local religious leaders from both communities and trying to convince them not to resort to fiery arguments.