Jammu, Nov 9 (IANS) Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Monday protested the ban on prepaid mobile phone SIM cards in the state and said genuine subscribers should not punished for the “failure of handful of persons”.
While Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram last week told reporters in Jammu that the ban was a “considered decision”, Omar Monday said the government should take a re-look at the issue.

Omar said that “the mishandling of the issuance of prepaid SIM cards by a small service group should not affect the large number of genuine users of the facility”.

The chief minister said he would sit with the central government to resolve the issue as a blanket ban on prepaid SIM cards is not the answer to the issues relating to security.

“Jammu and Kashmir has to be kept at par with other states of the country in respect of use of prepaid SIM cards,” he said, adding that the service groups should be made responsible for ensuring verifications of documents as per the requirements.