Why are mobile phone towers being targeted in Kashmir?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-33017721

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Mobile phone services in parts of Indian-administered Kashmir have been badly affected after suspected militants blew up a network tower and attacked people associated with the business. Senior journalist Shujaat Bukhari on why militants are targeting communication networks in the restive valley.

When some suspected militants threw a grenade at a mobile phone tower in the northern Kashmir town of Sopore on 23 May, it was not clear what their aim was.

But within the next three days, they killed two men - one working for a mobile network company, the other employed with a firm which puts up masts for mobile phone networks - in the town, and it was clear that the attacks were part of a grander plan.

Kashmir has seen an armed insurgency against Indian rule since 1989, and although violence has gone down considerably in the past few years, there have been occasional attacks by militants.

A hitherto unknown separatist group called Lashkar-e-Islami took responsibility for the latest attacks.

The group's posters appeared in different parts of the Kashmir Valley, warning people associated with the mobile phone services to shut down their businesses.

Panic

"Due to these cellphone companies, our commanders and militant brothers have been arrested or killed," read one poster.

"We warn all the people associated with the telecom companies to stop working for them and tower site owners to dismantle the towers. We also warn shopkeepers who recharge cell phones to stop it. If not, they will be killed," it warned.

Panic spread fast.

Fearing more attacks, service operators quickly took out of service 1,058 mobile towers in 10 districts in the valley. More than 600 of them are now back, but hundreds remain down.

And the threat has not completely subsided.

Kashmir has nearly six million mobile telephone subscribers and the disruption in services has affected many of them. Only a few thousand broadband connections, which use fixed landlines, are working.

Although the police has detained a few people in connection with the attacks, no one appears to know anything about the "mystery" group targeting mobile networks.

A Pakistan-based alliance of militant groups - the United Jehad Council - has actually criticised the Lashkar-e-Islami as a "creation of Indian agencies".

Kashmir's hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani echoes a similar sentiment. A lot of people I spoke to say the same. Even Mustafa Kamal, a senior leader of the state's main opposition National Conference (NC) party, said if militants were denying a hand in the attacks, then "Indian agencies" must be responsible.

Writ of militants

Senior police officials believe the Lashkar-e-Islami is a "front organisation" of the pro-Pakistani Hizbul Mujahideen militant group, which maintains a token presence in Indian Kashmir.

"There is no doubt that militants are behind the attacks. There is also a possibility that this is a loose group controlled by Pakistan and [their intelligence service] ISI to create disturbance in Kashmir and show that the writ of the militants still runs here," one official said.

The breakdown in mobile networks and broadband services is affecting the livelihoods of thousands of people associated with the business and consumers.

Mobile telephone services were introduced in the Kashmir Valley in 2003 after facing much resistance from authorities who feared it would give a fillip to insurgency.

Raising security concerns, Indian intelligence agencies had opposed the extension of these services saying that this would give a fillip to militancy.

However, intelligence officials say mobile services have actually helped them to capture a number of militants.

The big question remains: Are militants targeting the networks in an attempt to trigger fresh insurgency in the valley?

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