[The announcement applied only to 301
websites, and many Kashmiris said they were still in an information black hole.]
By
Kai Schultz and Sameer Yasir
 |
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Security personnel
patrolling the Lal Chowk area in Srinagar on Sunday.
Credit Tauseef
Mustafa/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
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NEW
DELHI — Months after
imposing a sweeping communications blackout in Kashmir, the Indian government
on Saturday unblocked several hundred websites in the disputed Himalayan region,
bringing a tentative end to the world’s longest internet shutdown in a
democracy.
The announcement comes nearly half a year
after India’s government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, revoked
Kashmir’s semiautonomous status. Bracing for subsequent unrest, the authorities
suspended landline and cellular connections, cut internet services and
dispatched tens of thousands of troops to the area.
Since then, the Kashmir Valley, home to as
many as eight million people, has endured a punishing information blackout.
Foreign journalists and diplomats were
blocked from visiting the predominantly Muslim territory, which is contested
between India and Pakistan. The government arrested scores of Kashmiris,
including former heads of state, without disclosing charges. Ordinary Kashmiris
struggled to procure medicines and contact loved ones.
The lifting of restrictions on Saturday
applied only to 301 “whitelisted” websites. Among them were entertainment
platforms like Netflix and Amazon and some international news outlets,
including The New York Times. Many Indian publications remained blocked, along
with all social media. Mobile data access was also restored, though it was
limited to 2G connections.
“It is very slow — and a good joke,” said
Sajeel Majid, 35, a restaurant owner in Srinagar, the summer capital of
Kashmir. “India wants to deceive the world by saying we have restored internet,
but we can’t even access email with 2G speed.”
Though some Kashmiris said the partial
restoration of internet services could bring some semblance of normalcy to the
region, they pointed out that shops remained largely shut and troops were still
posted everywhere. Over the last week, around half a dozen Kashmiri militants
were killed in gun battles with Indian forces, who have been accused of
torturing civilians and using excessive force against protesters.
In a statement, the government of Jammu and
Kashmir said continued internet restrictions were necessary to prevent the
“propagation of terror activities” and the “circulation of inflammatory
material.” Officials said they would approve more websites in the coming days.
India has increasingly come under scrutiny,
both domestically and abroad, for cutting off the internet, a tactic more
commonly associated with dictatorships than democracies. The country tops the
world in the number of internet shutdowns, with 134 last year, according to
SFLC.in, a legal advocacy group in New Delhi that tracks such restrictions.
This month, the Supreme Court ruled that
internet access was integral to an individual’s right to freedom of speech and
expression. Judges said the government’s methods in Kashmir were an “arbitrary
exercise of power,” though they stopped short of declaring them illegal.
Hours after the government lifted some
restrictions, Kashmiris said web pages — including approved ones — were again
blocked for Republic Day festivities on Sunday, which commemorate the day when
India’s Constitution went into effect.
“It is just a game to tell people we have
restored internet services, but on the ground it doesn’t work and is of no
use,” said Adnan Bhat, 19, a student in Srinagar.
