Internet suspension in Kashmir seen as attempt to gag dissent
CRIPPLED Flow of info via internet, mobiles is the 1st casualty in J&K
Freelance press photographer Abid Bhat used to hotspot the 4G internet on his mobile, connect it to his laptop and send pictures to international publications. His work stopped since 3G and 4G mobile internet services were suspended in the Kashmir Valley from Monday afternoon. “I don’t have a fixed-line broadband connection at home. I am requesting friends to allow me to use theirs,” Bhat said.
The internet becomes the first casualty whenever the situation in the militancy-ravaged Valley turns from restive to volatile. The latest clampdown is to restrict Kashmiris from uploading on social media photos and videos of human rights violation by security forces.
A number of clips, including the one showing a man tied to a military jeep as a human shield against stone-throwers, went viral and picked up by both national and international media last week.
On Monday, hours before the internet was shut, Kashmir was rocked by student protests that left 60 people wounded.
Many students ran Facebook Live videos of their protests, a feature that works best only when the data strength is high.
The longest period of mobile internet blackout was the one from July 8 last year, after the killing of popular militant commander Burhan Wani.
Post-paid mobile internet services were restored in mid-November, while pre-paid services returned only on January 30 this year.
Government and police sources in Kashmir maintain that mobile internet restrictions help check the mobilisation of protesters and prevent rumours that worsen the situation.
Violence happens on the streets even when internet is suspended. But the top cops maintain that the “scale of violence” would have been higher had the internet been working.
Union home minister Rajnath Singh said in the Lok Sabha last month that social media groups operating from Pakistan provoke Kashmiri youngsters to throw stones at security forces. Human rights campaigners in Kashmir have a different take on the issue. “The internet ban is less about the worry of mobilisation but it is more about curbing the humiliation that the state face through the evidencing which happens through social media,” said Khurram Parvez, programme coordinator of the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society.
Traders complain that the frequent internet blockades hamper their work immensely.
Mushtaq Ahmad Wani, president of the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: “The worst-hit is perhaps the tourism sector. Apart from the technical difficulties, the perception of Kashmir in the minds of tourists suffers a massive jolt. Who will want to visit a place where even the internet is banned?”