SMS service blocked in IOK: Women protest abrogation of Article

SRINAGAR: Text messaging services were blocked in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK). Security sources said the decision to cut text messaging services was taken to reduce the ability of freedom fighters to communicate.

Indian 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. – AFP

News Desk adds: Meanwhile in Srinagar, the police in on Tuesday detained half a dozen women activists including the sister and daughter of former chief minister Farooq Abdullah during a march to protest against abrogation of provisions of Article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories, officials said.

Abdullah’s sister Suraiya and his daughter Safiya, who were leading a group of women activists, were detained by the police, international media reported.

Wearing black arm bands and holding placards, the women protestors were not allowed by the police personnel to assemble and were asked to disperse peacefully.

However, the protestors refused to disperse and tried to stage a sit-in.

The women CRPF personnel rounded the protestors into police vehicles. The police also tried to stop the protesting women from distributing a statement to the media covering the protest.

“We the women of Kashmir disapprove the unilateral decision taken by the government of India to revoke Article 370, 35A and downgrade and split the state of Jammu and Kashmir,” the statement said. Demanding restoration of civil liberties and fundamental rights of the citizens, the women said they feel “betrayed, humiliated and violated as people”.

They also demanded immediate release of detainees and demilitarisation of rural and urban areas.

“We express our outrage against the national media for their false/ misleading coverage of ground realities in Kashmir,” the statement added.