Broadband to be partially restored in J&K today

The Jammu and Kashmir administration, days after the Supreme Court ordered a review of the restrictions imposed in the Union Territory, on Tuesday evening allowed mobile Internet in parts of Jammu region and broadband in establishments providing essential services.

The order comes into effect from today and shall remain in force for seven days, a government communication said.

At the beginning of this year, short messaging service (SMS) on all mobile phones in Kashmir, and broadband internet services were restored in government-run hospitals.

Mobile phone, landline and internet services were disconnected in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir on August 4, a day before the Centre withdrew its special status and divided it into two Union territories — Jammu & Kashmir with a legislative assembly and Ladakh without one.

In a three page order, the administration asked Internet service providers to offer broadband facility to all institutions dealing with essential services such as hospitals, banks and government offices. Mac Binding essentially means to enforce a client machine to work from a particular Internet Protocol address.

In order to facilitate tourism, the broadband Internet services would be provided to hotels and tour and travel establishments, the order said.

However, all social media sites remain out of bounds.

The institutions and government offices that are being provided Internet access shall be responsible to prevent misuse, according to the order.

It said the 2G mobile connectivity on post-paid mobiles for accessing white-listed websites including e-banking will be allowed in districts of Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Udhampur and Reasi all in the Jammu region.

The order said that the police have brought material relating to the terror modules operating in Jammu and Kashmir including handlers from across the border who are attempting to aid and incite people by transmission of fake news and targeted messages through use of the Internet.

The relaxation came days after the Supreme Court said access to the Internet is a fundamental right under Article 19 of the Constitution.

The court had also asked the Jammu and Kashmir administration to review within a week all orders imposing restrictions in the Union Territory.

It had asked the J-K administration to restore Internet services in institutions such as hospitals and educational places providing essential services.