J-K banning 22 social networking sites for betterment: Nirmal Singh

Following the Jammu and Kashmir Government banning on 22 social networking sites, Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Kumar Singh on Wednesday asserted that if social media is misused then the government needs to take steps for the betterment of the state and that is what it is doing now.

"If social media is being misused then the government had to take steps. Many groups from Pakistan have been operating and regulating on all the unwanted happenings that has been occurring since weeks. With this the youth get instigated to do wrong towards its own people," Singh told ANI.

Singh further stated that the government wants the situation to get normal and the youth to get access to social media.

"With the increase in row in the state, the situation has been aggravated and the youth have pushed the government to investigate on all matters. We want the situation to get normal and the youth get access to social media soon. But in all this the government obligation should be respected," he added.

The Jammu and Kashmir Government haS banned social networking sites for a month in the Valley in order to prevent anti-national and anti-social elements from spreading inciting messages.

Mobile Internet services have remained suspended since April 19 following widespread students' unrest.

In an order, the Home Department has directed all ISP's that "any message or class of messages to or from any persons or class of persons relating to any subject or any pictorial content through the following social networking sites shall not be transmitted in the Kashmir valley for a period of one month or till further orders.

As per the government directive, social networking sites to be suspended include Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, QQ, WeChat, Ozone, Tumblr, Google+, Baidu, Skype, Viber, Line, Snapchat, Pinterest, Telegram, Reditt, Snapfish, YouTube (Upload), Vine, Xanga and Flickr.

It was not immediately clear whether the order pertains to all internet services or just the mobile internet services, which are already suspended since April 17.

The mobile internet services in Kashmir were snapped last Monday following widespread student protests in the valley against alleged highhandedness of security forces.

The government has said that the continued misuse of social networking sites and instant messaging services are likely to be detrimental to the interests of peace and tranquility in the state.

The move has already been criticised by a lot of people who say that this is a blatant act by the government to block communication. Many who are involved in ecommerce and even tourism believe that trade is going to be impacted.