The Asian Age

Mobile Net blocked in Jammu, restored

- AGE CORRESPOND­ENT

Srinagar: Mobile Internet services were on Thursday briefly suspended in some parts of Jammu as the authoritie­s feared social media could be misused for spreading rumours following the recovery of carcasses of three cows in Udhampur. Officials said the services were fully restored by Thursday evening.

Mobile Internet services were suspended briefly in some parts of Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday as the authoritie­s feared social media could be misused for spreading rumours following recovery of carcasses of three cows in Udhampur district.

Officials said the services were restored in about one hour in some areas and were fully restored by the evening in other areas as well after the decision was reviewed at a high level meeting of security officials. They said the carcasses of slaughtere­d cows were found behind the sub- district magistrate’s office in Chenani tehsil of the district. As the word of the incident spread, a large number of people took to the streets and traders brought their shutters down in protest.

The authoritie­s were also apprehensi­ve of a reaction in Hindu majority areas of Jammu region over the “beef party” hosted by Independen­t MLA Sheikh Abdur Rashid in Srinagar’s MLAs hostel on Wednesday evening. Photograph­s of the “beef party” had already been uploaded through WhatsApp and place on Facebook and Twitter. com.

Meanwhile, Union home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi held a meeting with chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed in the summer capital Srinagar, during which issues pertaining to law and order and the overall security situation in the State were discussed.

The issue of recent crossborde­r firing incidents and their impact on the lives of population­s in the districts along the Internatio­nal Border and Line of Control also came up for discussion. Mr Mehrishi was accompanie­d by secretary, internal affairs, MHA, Ashok Prasad, who has served in J& K as director- general of police. An official spokesman said that Mr Sayeed urged the home secretary to expedite progress on sanction of five Indian Reserve Police battalions, upgradatio­n of police training institutes, continuati­on of police modernisat­ion as a centrally- sponsored scheme and restoratio­n of flood- damaged infrastruc­ture in the State. Proposals regarding up- gradation of police training institutes and continuati­on of reimbursem­ent of upgradatio­n of police- public schools and hospitals have been submitted to the home ministry, the spokesman said.

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