Jammu, June 4 (IANS): Separatist politics aimed at heightening tensions before the annual Amarnath Yatra is to blame for the attacks on mobile phone towers in the Kashmir Valley, a senior minister said on Thursday.

Jitender Singh, the minister of state in the Prime Minister's Office, said: "It has been a general practice for the last few years that anti-national elements start such activities ahead of the Amarnath Yatra.

"We (central government) have conveyed our concerns to the Jammu and Kashmir government and we are sure that Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's government will take stern action against such elements," he told the media here.

Without taking names, the minister said some mainstream political parties in Jammu and Kashmir had got tempted by separatist politics.

Police on Thursday said that almost all mobile phone towers installed on private properties in the Kashmir Valley were functioning again and phone connectivity had been restored in areas where militants attacked the phone towers during the last fortnight.