Kargil got back Internet connectivity on Monday after nearly five months, but not before some of the top administrative and religious bodies in the district had issued public appeals against “misuse” of the facility.

Internet services had been suspended in Kargil on August 5, when the government revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and decided to bifurcate it into two Union Territories.

Of the 22 districts in the erstwhile state, Leh alone did not face an Internet ban. Kargil has become the first among the other 21 districts to get back both mobile and broadband Internet services, which means the Internet is now fully restored in Ladakh.

While broadband Internet returned to Jammu sometime ago, mobile Internet hasn’t. All the Valley districts are without either facility, despite the authorities’ repeated claims that the situation has been normal for weeks.

Feroz Khan, chief executive officer of the Kargil Autonomous Hill Development Council, told The Telegraph that the restoration of Internet would be a huge relief for the people, particularly the students and businessmen.

He said that less than 100 people in Kargil had broadband connections but thousands used mobile phones with Internet connections.

“We had all along been wondering why Internet services had been snapped in Kargil in the first place. It was never snapped in Leh,” Khan said.

“Our district witnessed government restrictions and protests against the revocation of Article 370 provisions in August, but from September it has been peaceful.”

Khan said his council and several premier religious bodies in Kargil -– including the Islamia High School and the Imam Khomeni Memorial Trust --- had issued an appeal against misuse of the Internet.

He denied there were any such orders from above, saying: “We did it on our own.”

Some officials, however, said the lieutenant governor’s administration in Ladakh had nudged Khan’s council and certain other influential organisations to appeal against Internet misuse before restoring the facility.

Asgar Karbalai, leader of the Imam Khomeni Memorial Trust and former Kargil MLA, denied the trust had issued such an appeal. “We never did any such thing. We can never strike any agreement or sign any bond on such issues,” he said.

“At our meetings with the lieutenant governor, we told them Kargil was facing religious discrimination as a Muslim district. The Internet was banned here but not in (Buddhist-majority) Leh. We told them (that it means) you don’t trust us.”

Kargil had bitterly opposed the August 5 constitutional changes but the situation eased after lieutenant governor R.K. Mathur announced last month that secretariats and police offices would be set up in both Leh and Kargil. Karbalai said the people continued to be opposed to the August 5 decisions.

Leh is the only district in the erstwhile state to have welcomed the bifurcation. But anger is now growing there, with residents demanding restrictions on outsiders buying land or securing jobs in the region.