GB Students Demanding Better Internet Accused Of ‘Supporting Anti-State Sentiments’
Special Communications Organisation (SCO), the cellular service provider in Gilgit Baltistan, has accused the students demanding better internet service of “supporting anti-state sentiments” in a tweet that was deleted later.
“Those who are trying to divide people on the basis of area or cultural differences are trying to create chaos among innocent people and are supporting anti-state sentiments. It is worth noting that SCO has lost 72 precious lives for provision of telecom services,” the mobile operator company said on Monday. However, the administration of SCO deleted the tweet later after receiving backlash on social media.
I just took a SS of this baqi sab b fuzool hi tha. pic.twitter.com/LIo3w0lrgf
— ZORO (@hunzawater99) July 12, 2020
Apparently this is a deleted tweet from the military run telecom @hq_sco which has a monopoly in GB.
Youth of GB recently launched a campaign for high speed internet so they can work/study from home during the covid emergency. SCO accused them of "supporting anti state elements" https://t.co/TbKxYCHLNu
— Fahad Desmukh (@desmukh) July 12, 2020
Yes & they’ve hindered other telecom companies from working in the region.when asked for better internet, they called students & professionals of #GilgitBaltistan Anti-State. Please spread the issue on other platforms as well so that our students could also join online classes.
— Ali Najeeb (@ali_najeebb) July 12, 2020
The students residing in under-privileged areas of Pakistan, including Gilgit Baltistan, Azad Jammu & Kashmir, erstwhile FATA, and Balochistan, have been protesting against the lack of internet facilities since the start of online classes across the country.
Even today, there is zero internet connectivity in some parts of Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (especially the former FATA) and GB. Recently, Pakistani social media was abuzz with images of students in such regions sitting in all sorts of settings in a desperate attempt to catch signals: from rocky fields to hilltops.
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