Indian Kashmir battles to restore mobile services after attacks

Telecom towers may be shifted near security posts to improve their safety, says Jammu and Kashmir police chief

SRINIGAR: Authorities in Indian Kashmir battled on Wednesday to restore mobile phone coverage, paralysed after a series of attacks by a previously unknown militant outfit on people who cooperated with service providers.

Two people have been killed and four others hurt in attacks by a group called Lashkar-e-Islam on landlords hosting cell phone towers and owners of recharge outlets, panicking others into shutting up shop.

As many as 2,500 telecom towers were affected, an industry group said. But authorities were bringing them back online gradually as police tightened security.

Read: Attacks force locals to shut down dozens of cell phone towers in Indian Kashmir

"We expect the problem to be resolved in the next few days, and normality to return to telecom services in the area by the end of the week," said Rajan S Mathews, head of the Cellular Operators Association of India.

Indian police, army and paramilitary forces in Kashmir have stepped up patrols and detained more than a dozen people over the attacks.

The perpetrators have not been publicly identified and their motives are unknown, beyond warning posters they have hung in areas that they have attacked. The mystery deepened further when they were denounced by a militant umbrella group.

Read: Four Indian soldiers killed in clashes with Kashmir militants

"There are black sheep using the name of militant groups and people must unmask such elements wherever they find them," the United Jihad Council said in a statement to local newspapers.

Telecom towers may be shifted near security posts to improve safety, said K Rajendra, the director general of the Jammu and Kashmir police. "Wherever the need arises for providing security to towers, we will provide it," he said.

Subscribers of six firms were affected by the disruptions: State-owned BSNL, Airtel, Aircel, Vodafone, Idea, and Reliance Communications, according to the operators association. Aircel is a unit of Malaysia's Maxis Communications.

One industry source estimated losses to the telecoms operators at as much as Rs800 million ($13 million) a month if the outages persist. The impact on local businesses could be far higher.

Read: Militants kill man for restarting telecom tower on property in Indian Kashmir

"We are suffering huge losses," said Mohammad Yasin Tuman, Managing Director of Mascot Travels in Srinagar, whose internet has been down for two days, stopping him from checking emails and making hotel bookings. "It is like a paralytic attack."