Digital Outage In Jammu Kashmir: Technical Glitch Or Safeguard Against Pakistan Cyber Attacks?

Srinagar: People across the Kashmir valley have been complaining of non-functional government websites and applications for over one week amid officials reporting around 15 lakh cyber attacks across the country during heightened tensions between India and Pakistan.

Websites and applications of important departments like Revenue and Power, among others, have been down for the past at least eight days, locals and consumers say. Mohammad Yousuf Reshi from Bandipora told ETV Bharat that he is trying to access the websites and the application of the Revenue department to extract documents of land, but they are not working. He said the Jammu and Kashmir Land Records Information System (JKLRIS) and its associated platform, Revenue Plus, are down from last week.

ETV Bharat tried to access the government websites, including billsahuliyat.jkpdd.net (used for paying electricity bills), jkrevenue.nic.in (J&K Revenue Department's website), and jkeducation.gov.in (J&K Education Department), but none of them was accessible. A message "This site can’t be reached" flashed on the screen when trying to access all of them.

Similarly, consumers of Kashmir Power Development Corporation Limited (KPDCL) who pay their bills online through its Bill Sahuliyat app complain it has been down for the last week, and they are not able to pay their bills. “I am unable to pay my electricity bill online as it has been non-functional for around a week. I don't want to go to the bank to stand in a queue for hours and pay my bill,” Showkat Ahmad, a consumer, said.

Kashmir Power Development Corporation Limited (KPDCL) Chief Engineer Aaquib Sultana Waheed Deva admitted that the app is down “due to technical glitches”. Asked whether it was closed as a precautionary measure given any cyber attack, Deva told ETV Bharat that the app will be functional “very soon”.

Although the Jammu and Kashmir government did not cite any cyber attack, Indian government websites are facing a barrage of cyber attacks from Pakistan as well as from Bangladesh and the Middle Eastern region, Cyber officials based in Maharashtra said earlier this week. They revealed that 15 lakh cyber attacks were carried out after the April 22 Pahalgam terror strike, but only 150 proved successful.

The hackers were primarily linked to Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and the Middle East, and the attacks intensified following the Pahalgam terror strike on April 22.

A senior official in the Jammu and Kashmir administration, who was not authorised to speak to the media, told ETV Bharat that verbal directions were issued to them to shut down the online services for securing data and information as a "precautionary measure" from cyber attacks from hackers during the India-Pakistan tensions last week.

Commissioner Secretary to Government General Administration Department (GAD) M Raju refused to reply to the query and referred this reporter to Director Information Nitish Rajore, who told ETV Bharat that there was "nothing untoward" with the online service. "Most of the websites will be up very soon", he said.

Following Operation Sindoor, launched by India against Pakistan in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) had issued an advisory to internet users in the country about possible cyber attacks. "Critical Online Safety Alerts always follow cybersecurity precautions. Stay cautious while online—don’t fall for traps or misinformation. Be patriotic, stay vigilant, stay safe,” MeitY posted on X.

While Jaskaran Singh Modi, State Informatics Officer, was not available for comments, an official in his office said the departments whose online services are down should themselves speak about the matter. “I cannot say anything about precautionary measures taken in apprehension of the cyber attacks,” he said.

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