Security lockdown severely curtails internet access
NEW DELHI — Six months after India’s government stripped restive Kashmir of its semiautonomy and enforced a total communications blackout, it is heralding the restoration of limited, slowspeed internet as a step toward normalcy.
But for the Himalayan region’s 7 million people, the reality is far different. They are only allowed to access governmentapproved websites. Popular social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter remain blocked. And though users can access YouTube and Netflix, the internet service is too slow to stream video.
Some Kashmiris are evading censors by using virtual private networks, or VPNs, which are widely employed globally to access restricted websites, but Indian authorities are looking for ways to clamp down on those, too.
“Frankly, let’s call it what it is: It’s still an internet shutdown and a blanket censorship of the internet,” said Nikhil Pahwa, a New Delhibased digital rights activist. “Can you imagine this being done to Delhi?”
The portion of the divided Kashmir region that India controls was already one of the most militarized places in the world before the government scrapped its semiautonomy and statehood last summer, began pouring in more troops and imposed harsh curbs on civil rights and information, including a blackout on the internet, cell phones, landlines and cable TV.
The government said it was necessary to ban the internet to head off antiIndia protests by rebels who have fought for decades for independence or unification with Pakistan, which administers the other part of Muslimmajority Kashmir. Both countries claim the Himalayan region in its entirety.
Digital experts say the internet controls are particularly severe.
“The internet clampdown in Kashmir is far worse censorship than anywhere in the world. It even surpasses China’s,” said Pranesh Prakash, an affiliated fellow at Yale Law School’s Information Society Project. “It is a step toward demolishing democracy in India.”
Since Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi came into power in 2014, the internet has been suspended more than 365 times in India, according to the global digital rights group Access Now.