Ghaziabad: Mobile Internet Services Suspended From 10 PM Tonight For 24 Hours

Mobile internet services have been suspended in Ghaziabad for 24 hours from 10 pm on Thursday in view of violent protests against the new citizenship law in parts of Uttar Pradesh, an official said. District Magistrate Ajay Shankar Pande has instructed mobile phone service providers to suspend internet services till 10 pm on Friday. The action has been taken to avoid spreading of hate messages on social media with an aim to disturb the communal peace and harmony.

Internet services have already been suspended in Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnor, Mathura, Agra, Bulandshahr, Shamli, Firozabad, Saharanpur districts. The internet services have been suspended as a preventive measure in view of Friday prayers and violent protests over the controversial law. Protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act had broken out in several districts of Uttar Pradesh leaving 19 people dead and moveable and immoveable assets damaged, mostly in arson.

Along with UP, several parts of the country have been witnessing protests against the amended Citizenship Act and the proposed implementation of a pan-India National Register of Citizens (NRC). The Citizenship (Amendment) Act allows granting citizenship to persecuted minorities—Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jain, Buddhists and Parsis from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh—who have taken refuge in India before December 31, 2014.