India Again Blocks SMS Services in Kashmir

Date: 15 October 2019 - 22:19

News ID: ۷۱۷۴۵

SRINAGAR, India) (AFP) -- Text messaging services were blocked in Indian Kashmir just hours after being restored when a truck driver was killed by suspected militants and his vehicle set ablaze, authorities said Tuesday.
Separately, Indian officials said a 24-year-old woman died in the latest exchange of artillery fire with Pakistan over their de-facto border dividing the blood-soaked Himalayan region.
Three people -- a father and his two children aged 10 and 11 -- were killed in a Pakistani district next to the Line of Control after mortar shells hit their homes, officials said on Tuesday.
Indian security sources said the decision to cut text messaging services was taken to reduce the ability of militants to communicate.
Authorities had only restored call and text services for mobile phones on Monday, following a 72-day blackout in the restive northern territory imposed after New Delhi scrapped the region's semi-autonomous status.
The seven million-plus people of the Kashmir Valley -- the main hotbed of resistance to Indian rule -- are still cut off from the internet, however.
Authorities said SMS services were cut again on Monday night following the attack on the driver of a truck carrying apples in Shopian.
Residents said two masked gunmen told the driver to use his truck to block the road, but it skidded and got stuck.
"The gunmen then fired at the truck and set it on fire," a witness told AFP.
Apples are a sensitive issue in Kashmir, which exports vast quantities of the fruit to markets across India.
Many orchard owners say they are refusing to harvest this year to protest against the government's move to scrap Kashmir's autonomy.
Indian authorities say that militants -- backed by arch-rival Pakistan -- have been intimidating farmers and businessmen.
The latest death from Pakistani artillery fire over the Line of Control dividing Kashmir brings the number of fatalities on the Indian side to three in the past four days, the Press Trust of India reported.
Two Indian soldiers were killed in two separate incidents on Friday and Sunday, PTI said.
Also on Tuesday, police arrested 13 women activists in Srinagar after they staged a protest calling for civil liberties and the release of detainees.