Army wants ban on pagers, cellphones in Northeast

GUWAHATI, July 21: At a time when the Centre is talking about to bring in revolution in the information technology, one of its important wing, the Army, has not only been opposing the expansion of cellular networking in the Northeastern states but have also asked to withdraw the pager services from the region. Expressing apprehension that militants may use these services, the 4 Corps Army Headquarters has asked the ministry concerned not to grant permission for the expansion of the cellular networks in the region, including Assam. This has left the cellular operators high and dry, even as their petition to the Union government pleading for its intervention in to the matter has failed to draw the attention. The Reliance Telecom, one of the two operators granted licenses to run cellular services in the Northeast was intending to spread its networks in the Upper Assam districts of the state and the curb imposed by the Army is likely to affect the ongoing process. Sources said that the Reliance Telecom has already advanced work to make services operational in Upper Assam's Jorhat and Dibrugarh districts. Interestingly, security circles in the state are not opposed to the idea of allowing the cellular networking in the region only on the pretext that militants may use it. A senior police officer who did not want to be quoted said ultras are now using the satellite phones and powerful wireless communication network. This equipment of highly-advanced technology is capable of providing communication facility between Bangladesh and their camps in Bhutan so it cannot be a ground to impose curb on cellular networking. The apprehension that the militants may misuse the cellphones and proximity of Bhutan and Bangladesh where they have major operation bases do not hold much weight because the militants already are in possession of highly-advanced telecommunication equipment. The Northeast forum of MPs has also strongly opposed the Army bid to curb cellphones and pagers. The president of the forum in a memorandum recently to the Union home and defence ministry had sought their intervention, as communication is must for the development of the region. The decision is likely to affect rural telephone networking in the region that is facing hardship due to lack of necessary infrastructure. There are only two cities Guwahati and Shillong in the entire region that has cellular networks.