Net gags during encounters upset Kashmiri students
SRINAGAR : The frequent suspension of 2G internet during militant encounters in Kashmir has irked college and university students who are appearing in their online internal examinations these days.
Already bearing the brunt of slow speed internet during the Covid-19 lockdown, the student community said snapping of mobile internet whenever a gunfight takes place between militants and security forces, leaves exam schedules in disarray.
Majid Lone of Islamia College of Science and Commerce (ICSC), Srinagar, woke up to no cellular internet service on Sunday as an encounter had started in Zadibal area of the city. “When I made some calls, I came to know about the encounter and postponement of exams. Mobile internet was suspended in south Kashmir on Thursday and Friday too after encounters,” he said.
While three militants were killed in Zadibal encounter on
Sunday, eight militants were killed on Thursday and Friday in two separate gun battles in south Kashmir’s Pulwama and Shopian districts. Another encounter took place in Anantnag .
A computer science student of Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST) in Pulwama district said their internal viva exams were scheduled online on Thursday when the internet was snapped. “Of 80, barely three students managed to give the exam. Internet was restored on Saturday when exams were reheld,” she said.
Kashmir divisional commissioner Pandurang K Pole said, “We try to localise internet suspension in rural areas, but in the city, there are technological constraints. We will look into the issue.” Higher education secretary Talat Parvez Rohella’s phone was switched off.