SRINAGAR: Text messaging services were blocked in Indian-occupied Kashmirjust hours after being restored when a truck driver was killed by suspectedmilitants and his vehicle set ablaze, authorities said Tuesday.
Security sources said the decision to cut text services was taken to reducethe ability of militants to communicate.
Indian authorities had only restored call and text services for mobilephones on Monday, following a 72-day blackout in the restive northernterritory imposed after New Delhi scrapped the region´s semi-autonomousstatus.
The seven million-plus people of the occupied Kashmir Valley — the mainhotbed of resistance to Indian rule — are still cut off from the internet,however.
Authorities said SMS services were cut on Monday night following the attackon the driver of a truck carrying apples in Shopian.
Residents said two masked gunmen told the driver to move his vehiclebecause it was blocking the road, but it skidded and got stuck.
“The gunmen then fired at the truck and set it on fire,” a witness told AFP.
Apples are a sensitive issue in Kashmir, which exports vast quantities ofthe fruit to markets across India.
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Many orchard owners say they are refusing to harvest this year to protestagainst the government’s move to scrap occupied Kashmir´s autonomy.
Indian authorities say that militants have been intimidating farmers andbusinessmen.
Separately on Tuesday, officers arrested half a dozen women activistsprotesting in Srinagar.
They included the sister and daughter of former chief minister FarooqAbdullah, one of several hundred local politicians, lawyers and others incustody since early August, mostly without charge.
Rebels have been fighting for three decades some 500,000 Indian soldiersdeployed in the territory, demanding independence or to join Pakistan whichalso controls part of the region and, like India, claims it in full.-APP/AFP