The restoration of 4G mobile internet services after a long wait of about two years has surprisingly excited mainstream leaders but it has not excited the population across Jammu & Kashmir who were denied the right guaranteed to by the constitution and declared a fundamental right atleast twice on J&K petitions by the supreme court of the country. The prolonged suspension of the high speed mobile internet services was denied on one pretext or the other even after several Supreme Court directions generated the hopes of an early restoration . Surprisingly the mainstream leaders who reduced their fight for the restoration of the high speed mobile net services just to their routine press statements and did not muster the courage to take the issue to the supreme after the enforcement of strict security clamp down across Kashmir from August 5,2019 onwards till January 2020 but they take pride in welcoming the government decision . On the contrary civil society members and groups who mustered the courage to take the issue to the Supreme Court don’t claim credit for the restoration of the services. It may be mentioned here that senior editor of Kashmir Times Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal was the first to take the issue to the supreme court immediately after the enforcement of an indefinite security clampdown on August 5, 2019 and later the issue was taken to the Supreme Court twice by the Private Schools Association Jammu & Kashmir (PSAJK).
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Since the physical attendance of students and teachers has already commenced in educational institutions across Jammu & Kashmir, the demand for the restoration of high speed internet services was not as pressing now as it was since March and thereafter till December last year. Better it would be for the mainstream leaders to try to persuade the incumbent central government to restore statehood and special status scrapped 18 months back if they can instead of welcoming the government decisions on restoration of high speed mobile internet services which even otherwise was expected to come any time after the opening of school and colleges across Kashmir very shortly.
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Fact remains that after the restoration of BSNL’s broadband internet services in March last year and launch of Jio Fibre internet services in mid summer last year the demand for restoration of high speed mobile internet services was reduced just to a political stunt. In fact the government did not pay any heed to the demand for restoration high speed mobile internet services the time when the students could not upload online applications for NEET, Combined Services Examination and admissions for undergraduate, post graduate and post doctoral courses in universities. Press demand of the high speed mobile internet services also peaked after the enforcement of COVID-19 lockdown in April last year. Since the physical attendance of students and teachers has already commenced in educational institutions across Jammu & Kashmir, the demand for the restoration of high speed internet services was not as pressing now as it was since March and thereafter till December last year. Better it would be for the mainstream leaders to try to persuade the incumbent central government to restore statehood and special status scrapped 18 months back if they can instead of welcoming the government decisions on restoration of high speed mobile internet services which even otherwise was expected to come any time after the opening of school and colleges across Kashmir very shortly.
