SRINAGAR, India (AP) – India ended an 18-month ban on high-speed Internet services on mobile devices in disputed Kashmir, where opposition to New Delhi deepened after it lifted the region’s semi-autonomy.
The order on Friday lifted the ban on 4G mobile data services. However, the order issued by the region’s interior secretary, Shaleen Kabra, asked police officers to “closely monitor the impact of lifting restrictions”.
A general ban on the internet, the longest in a democracy that human rights activists have dubbed “digital apartheid” and “collective punishment”, came into force in August 2019, when India withdrew Kashmir from its special status and from a state that gave its residents special rights to land and jobs. The region was also divided into two territories governed by the federal government.
The change accompanied a repression of security and a complete blackout of communications that left hundreds of thousands unemployed, damaged the already weak health system and interrupted the school and university education of millions. Months later, India gradually eased some of the restrictions, including partial Internet connectivity.
In January last year, authorities allowed more than 12 million people from India-controlled territory to access government-approved sites over low-speed connections.
Two months later, the authorities lifted the ban on social media and restored full Internet connectivity but not high speed internet. In August, 4G services were allowed in two of the region’s 20 districts.
Officials said the ban on the Internet was intended to prevent protests and attacks against India by rebels who fought for decades for independence in the region or for unification with Pakistan, which manages another part of Kashmir. Both countries claim the landlocked territory in its entirety.
Officials also argued that such security measures were necessary to better integrate the region with India, promote greater economic development and prevent threats from “anti-national elements” and Pakistan.
Many Kashmiris, however, see change as part of the beginning of settler colonialism that aims to engender demographic change in India’s only Muslim-majority region.
Digital rights activists have consistently denounced restrictions on the internet and claimed that they represent a new level of government control over information. They were also criticized by lawmakers in Europe and the United States, who asked the government to end the restrictions.
Omar Abdullah, the former high-ranking official in the region who was imprisoned for several months in 2019, welcomed the restoration of the Internet. “Better late than never,” he tweeted.
Others criticized these voices, saying that the internet is among the basic rights.
“In fact, I see some struggling to thank government officials for the 4G restoration,” said Anuradha Bhasin, executive editor of the Kashmir Times, in a tweet. “They are not offering us charity. We should be asking for compensation for our hardship and losses. ”
India often purchases mobile Internet services in parts of the region as a tactic during counterinsurgency operations and protests against India.
According to the London-based digital privacy and research group Top10VPN, India ranked at the top in internet outages in 2020.
The group, in its January report, said that shutting down the Internet in 2020 caused a loss of $ 4.01 billion worldwide and India was the most affected country, although it suffered a loss of $ 2, 8 billion.
Most Internet outages in India have been applied in Kashmir. But they were also used elsewhere by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
Authorities cut off the internet at protest sites outside New Delhi, where tens of thousands of farmers for more than two months camped against new agricultural laws. The change attracted global attention after pop star Rihanna on Tuesday, he tweeted a link to a CNN report on India blocking internet services at protest sites. This angered government ministers and Indian celebrities, who encouraged people to come together and denounce foreigners trying to break the country.