It is not the first time that the cellular services have been suspended in one or the other area of Kashmir Valley; reasons, as always – security concerns, as they put it! While the Short Messaging Service stands withdrawn in the entire Kashmir valley, some Northern areas have been chosen for total ban on the cellular services. The authorities in complete disregard to the impact this ban has on masses, terrorize a whole population in the name of security by resorting to the “cellular disconnection terror tactic”. And this they do now quite frequently. Thousands of cellular subscribers in North Kashmir have been put to a great deal of loss and inconvenience with the withdrawal of the service. There is no recourse left to them under the obtaining situation to seek compensation for the losses borne, or for the harassment and humiliation suffered, except wait for the “mercy” of the rulers. What the entire India suffered during Company Bahadur’s rule, Kashmir continues to suffer even to date in the name of security. Ironically these are the services which are not free to the subscribers but are made available to them at a premium.  And these are withdrawn the moment it is felt, on very flimsy reasons, that it would cause some security concern. Earlier the reason was cited as apprehension of the misuse by militants and now when as per their own claim there is almost no militancy, some where it's sensed that may be it contributes to some trouble, so why not snap it. It speaks volumes about the state of affairs in Kashmir. On the one hand authorities in Delhi and Srinagar are trying to find the cause for the latest outburst of anger in the valley and on the other it appears that no effort is spared to heap humiliation after humiliation on Kashmiris! And to add fuel to the raging fires the cellular service providers in J&K have been, of late, asked to withdraw the pre-paid services once again. This is something stinging and ridiculous too. It is unheard of elsewhere that cellular services are started with fanfare only to be withdrawn sooner than later, restored after a huge exercise of verifying the antecedents of subscribers by several agencies and then withdrawn again. This is being done in a country that claims to be world’s largest democracy and third world power after US & China. With so much of technological advancements made by it, can’t the country prevent the misuse of the facility by a handful of persons without holding an entire population to ransom? You have the state of art machinery installed in Srinagar and elsewhere to trace calls, to keep a tab on callers, to eavesdrop and keep a vigil on the suspects, why then resort to such a harsh step that only adds to alienation of a people? Here we would like to remind the powers that be that the cellular services were started here only once the machinery like call tracers etc. were first put in place. Why should the state go by the whims of some officers who know very little of policing and more of killing the unarmed civilians, arresting them, harassing them and complicating the situations to irretrievable extent? The suspension of cellular services in the North Kashmir has only added to the woes of the people who are already caught in a difficult situation due to unabated curfews and strikes.  The withdrawal of pre-paid services in the state is going to complicate the situation further instead of easing it. One would expect New Delhi to stop viewing Kashmir through tainted glasses and treat people here at par with the people in other states. That alone can make the ends of justice meet.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 25 Jul 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 25 Jul 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:00:00 IST