J&K: Scores Detained for Providing Sim Cards to Militants

Srinagar: Scores of people have been formally arrested or detained across Jammu and Kashmir on charges of providing separatist militants and other ‘undesirable elements” with Subscriber Identity Module cards to facilitate their access to mobile network services as the State Investigation Agency and the district police units have intensified their campaign against the alleged misuse of such facilities. The sources said that in the past one year more than thirty persons have formally been arrested and several others were recently detained for obtaining SIM cards in their names and then passing them on to terrorists and other “undesirable elements” for carrying out unlawful activities. It urged the citizens to exercise caution regarding SIM cards issued in their names and said, “Any individual found facilitating the misuse of SIM cards for terrorism or organized crime will face strict legal consequences”. The sources said that among those arrested under the Unlawful Activities Act, 1967, the Arms Act, the Explosive Substances Act or/and the relevant section of the Indian Penal Code for procuring and then misusing SIM cards for facilitating separatist militants to have access to mobile network services include Ashiq Hussain Wani, Shahid Saleem Lone, Sheikh Usama Yaseen, Umar Fayaz Sheikh, Afnan Mansoor Naik, Muhammad Khalil and Muhammad Shabir.