SRINAGAR, India (AP) – India ended ban on high-speed mobile internet services for 18 months on mobile devices in disputed Kashmir, where opposition in New Delhi has intensified since to revoke the semi-autonomy of the region.
The order late Friday lifted the ban on 4G mobile data services. However, the order issued by the region’s Home Secretary, Shaleen Kabra, called on police officials to “closely monitor the impact of lifting the restrictions.”
A general ban on the Internet, the longest in a democracy that rights activists called “digital apartheid” and “collective punishment.” came into force in August 2019 when India stripped Kashmir of its special status and status as a state granting its residents special rights over land ownership and jobs. The region was also divided into two federally governed territories.
The move was accompanied by a reduction in security and a total shutdown of communications that left hundreds of thousands out of work, affected the already weak health care system and stopped the schooling of millions of people. Months later, India gradually eased some of the restrictions, including partial Internet connectivity.
In January last year, authorities allowed more than 12 million people in India-controlled territory to access government-approved websites through slow-speed connections..
Two months later, authorities revoked 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 20 districts in the region.
Officials have said the internet ban was aimed at averting protests and attacks on India by rebels who have fought for decades for the region’s independence or unification with Pakistan, which administers another part of Kashmir. . Both countries claim landlocked territory in its entirety.
Officials have also argued that such security measures were necessary to better integrate the region with India, foster further economic development and stop threats from “anti-national elements” and Pakistan.
However, many Kashmiris see the movement as part of the beginning of colonial colonialism with the aim of triggering demographic change. in the only Muslim-majority region of India.
Digital rights activists have consistently denounced restrictions on the Internet and said they represented a new level of government control over information.. They were also criticized by European and American lawmakers, who called on the government to end the boundaries.
Omar Abdullah, a former senior official in the region who was jailed for several months in 2019, welcomed the restoration of the Internet. “It’s better late than never,” he tweeted.
Others criticized these voices, saying the Internet is one of the basic rights.
“I actually see some doing their best to thank government officials for restoring 4G,” Anuradha Bhasin, executive editor of the Kashmir Times, said in a tweet. “They do not offer us charity. We should ask for compensation for our deprivations and losses. ”
India often uses mobile internet services in parts of the region as a tactic during counterinsurgency operations and protests against India.
According to London-based digital research and privacy group Top10VPN, India topped the Internet in 2020.
The group, in its January report, said Internet closures in 2020 caused a loss of $ 4.01 million globally and that India was the hardest hit while suffering a loss of $ 2.8 billion. of dollars.
Most internet outages in India have been implemented in Kashmir. But they have also used it elsewhere in the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Authorities have cut off Internet in protest sites outside New Delhi, where tens of thousands of farmers have camped for more than two months against new agriculture laws. The move attracted worldwide attention after pop star Rihanna on Tuesday tweeted a link to a CNN report on India blocking Internet services at protest sites. He angered government ministers and Indian celebrities, who urged people to gather and denounce outsiders trying to break up the country.