SMS SERVICE BLOCKED
Officials say services blocked as precautionary measure
SMS services were stopped as a “precautionary measure” a few hours after post-paid mobile phone connections were restored in Kashmir Valley, officials said on Tuesday.
Mobile phone services for post-paid subscribers resumed in Kashmir after 72 days on Monday noon, but without any internet facilities. By about 5 pm, SMS services were stopped too, officials said.
SRINAGAR: A few hours after postpaid mobile phone services were restored in the Valley, SMS services were stopped as a “precautionary measure”, officials said on Tuesday.
Mobile phone services for postpaid subscribers resumed in Kashmir after 72 days on Monday noon, but without any internet facilities. By about 5pm, SMS services were stopped too, officials said.
The SMS services were stopped on the directions of the ministry of home affairs. Initially, along with calls from postpaid mobile phones, people were able to send messages bringing relief after 72 days of communication blockade in Kashmir.
However, five or six hours later, the SMS services were stopped by all telecom operators.
An official of a telecom operator said they received a communication from the government that SMS services should be snapped on all post-paid mobile services, which were restored in ten districts of the Valley on Monday afternoon.
Some people are also attributing the suspension of SMS services to an attack on a truck driver in south Kashmir’s Shopian district on Monday. Two terrorists, including a suspected Pakistani national, shot dead the driver of a Rajasthan truck and assaulted an orchard owner in Shopian district at around 8pm.
However, a senior official said the instructions were passed only for the restoration of voice calls and not SMS services.