IGP holds Hizbul Mujahideen responsible for Sopore telecom breakdown

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

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SRINAGAR, May 28: Breaking the State government’s silence over the mobile telephony breakdown in Sopore, Inspector General of Police for Kashmir Zone Syed Javaid Mujataba Gillani claimed on Thursday that none other than a local group of Hizbul Mujahideen militants had spread a wave of terror with four attacks in the last five days. Two persons associated with the mobile phone operations have been killed and three more injured.

“These threats and attacks started after we seized an improvised radio device which Hizbul Mujahideen had planted on a tower. It was a call-repeater used for receiving, relaying and boosting their voice data in Sopore, Baramulla and Pattan. They warned the people operating the towers of different companies and asked the private vendors to stop recharging phone services. First they printed and circulated a poster and later they started the strikes”, IGP Kashmir told State Times.

Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and head of the Hizbul Mujahideen and United Jihad Council, Syed Salahuddin, have condemned the armed attacks and disassociated themselves from the offensive. They have attributed it to the Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s “counter-terrorists”. Significantly, however, none of the separatist or militant groups has called for any protest shutdown, buttressing speculations of a militant group’s involvement.

Mr Gillani claimed that the Police had launched a comprehensive investigation and succeeded in identifying all the 6 to 8 militants and their overground workers who had threatened people, circulated posters and attacked the defiant operators. “We have fully worked out the grenade attack on a tower operator’s premises at Kralteng on May 23. We have also seized some posters and tracked almost all the characters associated with the task of threatening the vendors”, IGP said. Over half-a-dozen suspects have been arrested and detained for questioning.

Reports from North Kashmir said that almost all the towers of the private companies, installed on private premises, have been shut down. Services in Baramulla too have been disrupted as some landlords and SIM card retailers have installed notice boards of closure. “Only the main switching centres and networking towers on protected premises are now functional”, said a resident. He claimed that Airtel had fully closed down its business and operations in North Kashmir after the four attacks. None of the officials in Aircel and Airtel responded to phone calls.

IGP said that Police were “continuously in touch with BSNL and all the private telecommunication companies. “We are working on it and trying to restore the telecommunication system in Sopore, Baramulla and Pattan. We have offered the tower operators and vendors Police protection. I am hopeful that the mobile telephony operations will resume in a couple of days”, IGP asserted.

According to Police sources, there are 192 towers of different telecommunication companies in the jurisdiction of the Police district of Sopore. Of these, 28 are in Sopore town. Of the 28, as many as 21 towers have been shut in the town in the wake of the suspected militant threats and attacks on the service providers. Reports said that over 100 towers were now non-functional in Sopore and Baramulla areas. Pre-paid cellphone subscribers have been hit the worst.

Only the separatist hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani and BJP spokesman Khalid Jehangir have condemned the attacks and killing of the two civilians. BJP’s partner in the State government, PDP, besides the principal opposition parties National Conference and Congress have remained tight-lipped.

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