India blocks SMS services in Kashmir after trucker killed

Mobile telecom services were restored and stopped in Kashmir (The Hindu)  

SRINAGAR (AFP), 15 Oct, 2019 - Text messaging services were blocked in Indian Kashmir just hours after being restored when a truck driver was killed by suspected militants and his vehicle set ablaze, authorities said Tuesday.   

Separately Indian officials said that a 24-year-old woman died in the latest exchange of artillery fire with Pakistan over their de-facto border dividing the blood-soaked Himalayan region.   
Security sources said the decision to cut text messaging services was taken to reduce the ability of militants to communicate.   

Indian authorities had only restored call and text services for mobile phones on Monday, following a 72-day blackout in the restive northern territory imposed after New Delhi scrapped the region’s semi-autonomous status.   

The seven million-plus people of the Kashmir Valley are still cut off from the internet, however.   

Authorities said SMS services were cut again on Monday night following the attack on the driver of a truck carrying apples in Shopian.