The Ministry of Home Affairs has asked operators offering services in Kashmir to ensure that all communications taking place over their networks, either through voice over internet protocol (VOIP) or on social networking sites, be available for monitoring by the security agencies.

Currently, seven operators are present in Jammu and Kashmir, including Bharat Sanchar Nigam limited (BSNL), Bharti airtel, Aircel, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications, Tata Teleservices Limited and Vodafone Essar.

Prior to this, P. Chidambaram, Union Minister of Home Affairs held a meeting with the top officials of operators on August 25, 2011.

At the meeting, intelligence agencies officials informed Chidambaram about the security concerns that resulted from unmonitored communications taking place over VOIP and through social networking sites. Endorsing this view, Chidambaram then asked operators to ensure that the requirements of the intelligence agencies were met.