Digital strike: In a major crackdown against terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, the Centre banned at least 14 mobile applications which were used by the militant groups to communicate "secretly" with their bosses in neighbouring Pakistan.
According to the sources of India TV, the government has banned Crypviser, Enigma, Safeswiss, Wickrme, Mediafire, Briar, BChat, Nandbox, Conion, IMO, Element, Second Line, Zangi and Threema.
The sources claimed these applications were largely used by the terrorists in the Kashmir valley as a tool to send messages to their militant organisation in Islamabad. The terrorists used "cryptic codes" to send messages in order to avoid security.
"Agencies keep track of channels used by Overground workers (OGWs) and terrorists to communicate among themselves. While tracking down one of the communication, agencies found that the mobile application does not have representatives in India and it is difficult to track down activities happening on the app," said an official.
"Interest in sovereignty and integrity of India": Govt
Notably, this was not the first time when the government took major action against the applications involved in "illegal" activities in the country. Earlier in 2020, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, invoked its power under section 69A of the Information Technology Act to block at least 118 mobile apps.
It said the IT Ministry had received complaints from various sources, including several reports about the misuse of some mobile apps available on Android and iOS platforms for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users' data to servers outside India.
"In the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India and security of the State. And using its sovereign powers, the Government of India has decided to block the usage of certain Apps, used in both mobile and non-mobile Internet-enabled devices. These apps are listed in the attached appendix," it said.
Subsequently, the Centre invoked a similar ban on mobile applications multiple times. Earlier in February, loan-lending apps, the government of India ordered to ban around 230 Chinese apps, including 138 betting apps and 94 loan lending apps.
Also Read: 138 Chinese apps that got banned by the Indian Government: Complete list, reason and more
