NEW DELHI: The Centre on Thursday defended the restriction imposed in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of provisions of Article 370 before the Supreme Court and said that these measures were required to protect the people from the threats by non-State actors.
“We must be proud of our security forces that not a single life has been lost in firing,” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the state government, told a three-judge bench headed by Justice N V Ramana.
Justifying the same, Attorney General K K Venugopal said had internet services been allowed after August 5, then with one click of a button, “10,000 messages could have been sent to thousands of separatists or other militant leaders to congregate” which could have resulted in chaos and massive incidents of violence. When restrictions were imposed for three months following the killing of Burhan Wani in 2016, not a single case was filed, but now 20 petitions have been filed, he said while responding to the petitions filed by Anuradha Bhasin, editor of Kashmir Times, and Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Terming the pleas against restrictions as irrelevant, Mehta informed the bench that the restrictions were being relaxed on need basis. He said all newspapers in Kashmir are being published normally except for Kashmir Times that had deliberately chosen not to publish it.