Local newspapers in Kashmir Valley are offering a rare window to residents as the communication lockdown, including of Internet services, is about to complete three weeks. However, ban on post-paid services was lifted on Wednesday.
Leading dailies Greater Kashmir and Rising Kashmir , which run on BSNL broadband services, have reached out to families hit by the telecom breakdown.
Mobile lines downThe Valley is home to more than 60,000 mobile telephone users, most of them pre-paid connections, which have remain snapped since July 9, in the wake of the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani. The Internet on all types of phones has been shut down for about three weeks now.
The newspapers are carrying emotional messages from residents living outside the State. Rita Khan, from Russia, left a message for husband Anwar Iqbal Khan, a resident of Srinagar’s Soura.
“I haven’t had any news from him for a long time. We have a daughter who is just 3-year-old. Can you please help us get any information,” wrote Khan on the online helpdesk of Greater Kashmir .
Similarly, Showkat Ahmad Lone, a resident of Ganjipora-Batwina, Ganderbal district, dropped a message for his parents on Rising Kashmir . “I reside in Dubai. As cellular network is down in Kashmir I have not been able to contact my family and mother for the past 17 days now. I want to convey to my family and especially my mother that I am alright, my only worry is your safety,” wrote Mr. Lone on the daily’s helpdesk.
There is also a barrage of messages where people are offering free Internet help to students applying online and looking for medicines.
Kashmiris, working outside the State, have come up with helplines on these dailies for students studying across the country.
