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India Restores Some Mobile Phone Services in Kashmir

Anjana Pasricha

   NEW DELHI - India restored mobile phone service to about 4 million
   people in Indian Kashmir Monday, in a step aimed at restoring normalcy,
   10 weeks after New Delhi downgraded the region's semi-autonomy and
   imposed a security and communications lockdown.
   Although the restoration of service is a huge relief for many
   residents, it remains to be seen whether business as usual will return
   to Kashmir, whose streets and markets remain largely deserted due to
   what some compare to a campaign of civil disobedience.
   A hotel owner in Kashmir, Wasim Chaya, was among the millions overjoyed
   at being reconnected. "I am very happy, I am feeling very good; I have
   made and received six calls in one hour," he said.
   About 2 million prepaid mobile phones have not been restored and
   internet services also continue to be suspended.
   Authorities called the partial restoration of mobile services a
   "barometer of returning normalcy" to the Himalayan region where life
   remains disrupted since India cut off phone services and the internet,
   detained scores of local politicians and poured in thousands of troops
   to prevent unrest after it downgraded the status of its only Muslim
   majority region.

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