If it makes you wonder why there are so few Kashmiri citizens on the internet, your question will get answered today. Kashmir had a very large population online, but nowadays, it’s mostly just the active protesters and freedom fighters while the rest of the public haven’t been regular users.
The reason behind this is the curfew, which has been active since the Indian Army martyred Burhan Wani, the online freedom activist. Indian government has put up a complete communication blackout in the region. Mobile signals have not been activated since the first day they were blocked.
Broadband internet was already scarce due to the geographical limitations of the region and with mobile internet out of the equation, Indian authorities have tried to silence Kashmir’s voice. The tweet below can obviously present an image of what’s going on in the region.
An Indian tweeted how he wasn’t able to access the internet due to undeclared mobile service issue. In response to his tweet, the former Chief Minister of Indian-occupied Kashmir, Omar Abdullah himself remarked how Kashmiris are still without mobile internet for three months now.
Even former officials who ruled Kashmir are deprived of this, which very much gives us the view about how hard it must be for ordinary citizens there. Cut off from the world and each other, it must feel like they have been sent back by a half a century.
We see similar mobile network shutdowns in Azad Pakistan for short periods of time due to security reasons. It is really difficult for most of us to manage without mobile signals.
Imagine how it must be living like that, without mobile signals and being take down by the Indian army. How families would feel when someone goes outside and there isn’t even a way to contact each other. It can be said that it is the opposite there, and a security risk for them is to stay unconnected.
With such measures, India is trying to hide the human rights violations it is committing in Kashmir. They do not want the world to know of what is happening in Kashmir and how difficult a life they are spending these days.
They have barred all international and local media from visiting Kashmir and only a limited access is given to local media so that they can fake that nothing is happening in Kashmir.
International reporters or United Nation observers cannot visit the region and confirm whether the Kashmiris are rightly active on the internet and Indian army’s mutiny has crossed all bounds or is it a fraudulent movement.
Obviously India has something to hide which is why it’s not letting neutral visitors from visiting and confirming the situation. Same is always the case when a criminal tries to hide his crime. It is time international media and organisations take this seriously and help the Kashmiris before Indian mutiny increases any further.