Social media blocked in Kashmir
India orders restrictions after videos of alleged abuse spark protests
SRINAGAR (India): India has ordered Internet service providers in Indian-controlled Kashmir to immediately block Facebook, Twitter and 20 other social media sites and online applications for one month, after several videos and photos depicting alleged abuses of Kashmiris by Indian security forces sparked outrage and fueled protests.
The government said the restrictions ordered on Wednesday were made “in the interest of maintenance of public order”. But Pranesh Prakash, policy director for the Indian advocacy group the Center for Internet and Society, called it a “blow to freedom of speech” and “legally unprecedented in India”.
“It not only violates the Indian constitution but also violates international law,” he said.
Most of the applications the government ordered blocked were still working on Thursday. However, 3G and 4G mobile connections in the Kashmir Valley have not worked for more than a week now. Broadband and 2G connections have not been affected.
The government has often halted Internet service in the region in the past in an attempt to prevent anti-India demonstrations from being organised. But this is the first time authorities have shut down social media following the circulation of videos of alleged abuse by Indian soldiers.
Several recent clips, captured in the days surrounding a violence-plagued local election April 9, have proven to be especially powerful and have helped to intensify anti-India protests.
One video shows a stone-throwing teenage boy being shot by a soldier from a few metre away. Another shows soldiers making a group of young men, held inside an armoured vehicle, shout profanities against Pakistan while a soldier kicks and slaps them with a stick. The video pans to a young boy’s bleeding face as he cries. Yet another clip shows three soldiers holding a teenage boy down with their boots and beating him on his back.
The video that drew the most outrage was of young shawl weaver Farooq Ahmed Dar tied to the hood of an army jeep as it patrolled villages on voting day.
A soldier can be heard saying in Hindi over a loudspeaker, “Stone throwers will meet a similar fate,” as residents look on aghast.
“When they were driving me around, they were saying, ‘We will shoot (you)’, and were throwing stones at my head,” Dar said. “I was told not to talk. In one of the villages, an elderly man begged for my release but they didn’t listen to him.”
Police have since registered a criminal case against unnamed Indian soldiers in that case, for the first time citing a video as evidence. In addition, an army “internal inquiry has been initiated into the jeep video,” according to spokesman Col Rajesh Kalia.
The Indian chapter of Amnesty International has condemned videos from both sides for inciting anger and violence, and urged an investigation. — AFP