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Over 600 affected mobile towers in Kashmir restored after attacks
Mobile network operators who shutdown telecom towers across Kashmir following militant threats have restored their services, after police assured their safety.
The local administration with the help of police on Wednesday claimed to have restored 609 mobile towers out of 1058 affected after a spate of attacks from gunmen in north Kashmir's Sopore area left two dead last month.
Gun-toting militants had carried out a series of attacks on mobile towers, lobbing grenades and threatening operators, last month.
According to a police survey, the gunmen’s threats to mobile telephone operators affected 12 districts of the valley, both in north and south Kashmir. However, in Sopore area police have succeeded in restoring 59 out of 175 affected towers in the township where only two were operational.
Besides Sopore, Handwara and Baramulla have also been affected. In Handwara, out of 130 towers, 111 were affected and the police succeeded in restoring 81 so far. Similarly, 185 were affected in Baramulla out of 297 and 119 towers resumed functioning.
In the capital Srinagar, where a grenade was lobbed at a tower on Monday, 141 towers out of 714 were switched off. However, police claimed to have restored 91.
Following the attacks, the United Jehad Council (UJC), a conglomerate of 13 militant outfits, had asked mobile operators to resume functioning across the valley. “There are black sheep using the name of militant groups and people must unmask them,” UJC spokesperson Syed Sadaqat told a Srinagar-based news agency.
“Wherever such traitors harass respected people, telecom companies, and people associated with it, people should catch hold of them and punish them,” he said.
Moderate Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has condemned the attacks, while Hardline Hurriyat chairman Syed Ali Geelani described the attackers as “enemies of people and their struggle”.