(29 May 2007 9:00 pm)

NEW DELHI: Cable Operators have been banned from operating in the Kashmir valley by the Al-Badr militant outfit which has warned them of consequences if they continue operations.

''You are directed to stop all operations and close down your offices within 24 hours or face consequences,'' a spokesman for the Al-Badr said in a statement in Srinagar.

He claimed that the ban was being imposed because the operators had failed to stop airing obscene channels as directed earlier.

Reports from Srinagar and the valley said the networks were functioning normally till this afternoon, according to a Delhi-based spokesperson of an organisation of Cable Operators who did not want to be named.

The cable operators in Kashmir had stopped beaming all news and entertainment channels on May ten last year following militant threats despite the state government's assurance of complete protection, but had resumed this a day later after the Hizbul Mujahideen termed the ban as 'unnecessary'