GUWAHATI, Jan 19 � The North East Students� Organization (NESO) and the All Assam Students� Union (AASU) have decried the new verification procedure for pre-paid mobile phones being introduced in the North-East in the line of those applied in Jammu and Kashmir, terming it an �insult� to the people of the region besides causing harassment to the subscribers.
In a statement, the student bodies said that while national security could never be
undermined, under no logic should the situation in the North-East be compared to the scenario in Jammu and Kashmir.
�It is an insult to the people of the North-East which has subjected the pre-paid cell phone users � 98 per cent of the region�s 1.25 crore mobile phone users being pre-paid users � to serious inconvenience and harassment,� they said.
The student bodies demanded that the matter be reviewed by the Centre in all seriousness and restore the earlier status as with rest of India. They also deplored the poor mobile service in the region, and called for improvement in mobile services.
