Kashmir witnesses 55 Internet shutdown this year: Reports

Yasmeen Manzoor

Srinagar, July 03(KNB): With Internet being declared to be a basic right by various states, Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society(JKCCS) revealed that Kashmir valley saw 55 internet shutdowns in the present year from January 1 to June 30 mostly in the South Kashmir districts throwing up a big barrier among the students and online business persons of Kashmir valley.

The valley has been witnessing the internet shutdowns by the authorities since from a long run, some of these shutdowns were for a short period while others lasted for two or even three months, however, the internet shutdown that was enforced after the abrogation of Article 370 on August 4, 2019 was the longest ever affecting the people who depend mostly on the internet for their survival and is still under restrictions as only 2g service is available to the common mass.

Most of the internet shutdowns witnessed in the year 2020 were imposed due to the encounters that broke out in various districts of the valley as in North, Central while hitting South Kashmir worstly.

Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society & Association of disappeared Persons (APDP) in their biannual report have stated that from Jan 1 to June 31 the valley witnessed almost 55 internet blockades, at least 30 civilians and 54 armed forces killed.

Longest Internet Shutdowns:

The longest ever internet shutdown was of seven months imposed on 4-Aug-2019 till 4th March 2020 that lasted for 213 days when Article 370 was abrogated by the Government and the state of Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated into the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh following which a complete shutdown including communication both landlines as well as Mobile services ban was imposed which was gradually lifted afterwards while the internet blockade lasted for seven months.

The business community and students are the worst sufferers due to the internet shutdown not only impacting the economy but education being affected the most.

“Almost every paperwork related to business is now to be done online the constant blockade not only impact our business but also prevent us from reaching out to customers, strains small team of workers who find themselves out of work every time online connectivity is snapped by the authorities,” an online business tod news agency Kashmir News Bureau.

“Whenever there’s an internet ban, my sales go down by 50% as our customers can’t order via our online application,” he further said.

A student preparing for NEET entrance said, “we are facing huge problems in preparation as here the authorities always ban the internet service here and now it has been almost a year we are surfing on 2g service and are not even able to download our basic assignments.

Moreover, normal banking operations have been severely hit and people have to visit their respective branches for paying utility bills which they would otherwise pay online.(KNB)

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