In another major step to curb militant activities, the Central government has blocked 14 mobile messenger applications being used by militant groups, sources said.
It is learnt that these applications were mostly being used by Over Ground Workers of different militant organisations based in Jammu and Kashmir to spread the message and to receive notifications from Pakistan.
The action was taken based on intelligence inputs shared with the Central government in a secret communication recently.
Soon after the information was shared with the Ministry of Home Affairs that these applications are being used by OWGs and members of different militant groups to circulate anti-India messages, the Ministry in close coordination with IT Ministry and other concerned agencies blocked them.
As per sources, the majority of these mobile applications are specially designed to maintain the anonymity of the users as well as their inbuilt features also make it difficult in finding out the entities associated with them.
Through these applications, militant outfits and their affiliates were engaging their associates in Jammu and Kashmir to further their militant activities in the Union Territory and other places, said sources.
As inputs received that these applications are being used to further militant propaganda and incite youths in Jammu and Kashmir, the Central government blocked them under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000.–(ANI)