Internet services in three districts falling under the Srinagar Parliamentary constituency, going to polls tomorrow, will be shut down from midnight as a precautionary measure to prevent floating of rumours by anti- national elements.
Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal, which form part of the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat, will have no Internet connections amid reports that Pakistan-based groups were engaged in spreading disinformation on the eve of polls, official sources said.
They said the ban would be removed immediately after polling ends in the Lok Sabha seat for which National Conference president Farooq Abdullah was having a virtual direct contest with ruling PDP’s Nazir Khan.
Stone-pelting incidents were reported from various parts of Budgam and Ganderbal area in which two police personnel were injured.
Crowds indulged in stone pelting in Chadoora, Beerwah, main town Budgam and Pandich and Wakoora in Ganderbal, official sources said, adding one CRPF constable was injured in Budgam and at Wakoora in Ganderbal.
Police was making all attempts to prevent mob from growing bigger and bigger and at places it had to resort to tear gas shelling to disperse the mob .
However President All j&k Students Union ( AJKSU ) , Syed Tajamul imran , Reacting to this said, “the irony of listening to Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi lecturing about connected digital India while we are totally disconnected.” “The PDP-BJP regime is pushing people of the state to the wall,” he further added ,
Not only the common people are suffering but many newspaper offices that rely on inputs from their district correspondents through emails have also been affected. “The local correspondents use internet to send their stories to the head office but due to non availability of internet connection , They are not able to receive any input from them and they have been unable to print editions .
Mir Suhail is a Srinagar based journalist. He can be reached at [email protected]