Jammu and Kashmir government has issued a circular stating that users who want to start a WhatsApp news group to first apply for a license. The notice from the office of the district magistrate of Kupwara says that all the group admins of the existing WhatsApp news groups in the district have to register themselves in the office within 10 days. “It is impressed upon all the Admins of WhatsApp news groups of the district to get the registration of their WhatsApp news groups in the office of undersigned within 10 days,” the circular reads.

Notice: Running a WhatsApp group in #Kashmir? Get a license. @ShashiTharoor @abdullah_omar HT @fainalysis pic.twitter.com/oV47VfrLHE

— Prasanto K Roy (@prasanto) April 19, 2016

It also carries a stern warning that action will be taken against admins who do not register their groups, and also if a group were to share ‘irresponsible remarks/deals leading to untoward incidents’. The circular comes at a time when mobile internet services were suspended in the valley for days following the clashes in Handwara. WhatsApp had recently rolled out end-to-end encryption which made all communication through it more secure.