Jammu:As the Internet blackout in Kashmir crossed 120 days, tens of thousands WhatsApp users who have “auto-exited” are in fear of losing personal data.

Hojatul Islam Wal Muslimeen Aga Dr. Syed Mudasir Rizvi  who is seminary scholar and presently perusing Islamic studies in Iran informed his family members living in Srinagar on Wednesday night that all relatives have suddenly “left” the family WhatsApp group.

“The data on the group came to a halt on August 5. We used to share pictures and information regarding events within  family. Now we lost all data ,” said Dr.Mudasir

Nazia Kareem, a resident of Khanyar, who was in touch with a U.S.-based doctor about his father’s rare illness, said she fears she might have lost important medical records and prescriptions saved on the application. “I am not sure if the line-of-medical treatment saved on WhatsApp will be there once I re-register myself,” she lamented.

“To maintain security and limit data retention, WhatsApp accounts generally expire after 120 days of inactivity. Those accounts automatically exit their WhatsApp groups. People will need to be re-added to groups,” WhatsApp said in a statement.

“Kashmir contacts automatically ‘exiting.’ I know they would not have been able to see my messages anyway, but this is heartbreakingly symbolic,” wrote Sabah Hamid, a Twitter user, living outside Kashmir.