J-K govt orders internet services suspended for a month

The Jammu and Kashmir government on Wednesday banned 22 social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp for one 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.