Srinagar: Mobile Internet services were suspended briefly in some parts of Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday as the authorities feared social media could be misused for spreading rumours following recovery of carcasses of a cow in Udhampur district.
Officials said that the services were restored in about one hour in these areas after the decision was reviewed at a high level meeting of security officials. They said the carcass of a slaughtered cow was found behind the Sub District Magistrate’s office in Chenani tehsil of the district. As the word of the incident spread, a large number of people took to the streets and traders brought their shutters down in protest.
The authorities are also apprehensive of a reaction in Hindu majority areas of Jammu region over the ‘beef party’ hosted by Independent MLA Sheikh Abdur Rashid in Srinagar’s MLAs hostel on Wednesday evening.
Meanwhile, Union Home Secretary, Rajiv Mehrishi, held a meeting with Chief Minister, Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, in summer capital Srinagar during which issues pertaining to law and order and overall security situation in the State were discussed. The issue of recent cross-border firing incidents and their impact on the lives of populations in the districts along the International Border (IB) and Line of Control (LoC) also came up for discussion. Mr. Mehrishi was accompanied by Secretary, Internal Affairs, MHA, Ashok Prasad, who has served in J&K as Director General of Police.
An official spokesman said that Mr. Sayeed urged the Home Secretary to expedite progress on sanction of five Indian Reserve Police battalions, up-gradation of police training institutes, continuation of police modernization as a centrally-sponsored scheme and restoration of flood-damaged infrastructure in the State. Proposals regarding up-gradation of police training institutes and continuation of reimbursement of up-gradation of police-public schools and hospitals have been submitted to the Home Ministry, the spokesman said.
