J&K govt lifts ban on SMS on post-paid mobiles

In a New Year gift to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, the state government today withdrew the ban on Short Messaging Services (SMS) using post-paid mobile phone but the ban on sending of bulk messages remained in force.

The decision was taken at the directive of chief minister Omar Abdullah who reviewed the overall situation in the state with senior officials as well as intelligence agency sleuths, an official said.

The ban was imposed in June this year following widespread unrest in the Valley, which was further fueled by bulk messages sent in by anti-national forces.

According to the order, which comes barely 9 days ahead of the New Year, the state government asked mobile service operators to allow SMS services from all post-paid phones.

However, the ban on bulk messages sent usually from computers remained banned, the notification said.