India enforces communication blackout in occupied Kashmir

RSF head said that cutting all communication is preventing journalists from working.

SRINAGAR (Reuters/Dunya News) – A communications blackout in disputed Kashmir entered a second day on after India snapped television, telephone and internet links to deter protests over its scrapping of special constitutional status for the Himalayan region.

The state of Jammu and Kashmir became a news and information blackhole in the space of a single morning yesterday. Mobile Internet service was cut first and then all online and phone services were disconnected. Even cable TV services are now inaccessible.

Major internet shutdown happened across parts of Kashmir owing to the growing military presence and curfew reportedly imposed by Indian forces after the Indian government ended special status of the Kashmir while scrapping articles 35A and 370 of the Constitution.

Hours before Monday’s (August 5) announcement, authorities in occupied Kashmir clamped an unprecedented communications blackout on the region.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said that Kashmir needs a free flow of information at this critical moment in its history and called for the immediate restoration of all means of communication in Indian-occupied Kashmir. “Cutting all means of communication in Jammu and Kashmir prevents its journalists from doing their job and, above all, prevents its citizens from having access to independent news and information, which is absolutely decisive at such a crucial moment,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk. “We call on India’s Minister of Home Affairs, Amit Shah, to restore communications in the valley at once. The credibility of Indian democracy and respect for the rule of law are at stake," he added.

Communication in Kashmir ended following deployment of tens of thousands of Indian troops after the Indian government deprived Kashmir of its special status.The law abolishes article 370 of India’s 1947 constitution, which granted a degree of autonomy to this territory with a large Muslim population that has been dogged by conflict and is now one the world’s most militarized regions. In practice, the Kashmiri population will now be ruled directly from New Delhi. The communications blackout in Kashmir has been accompanied by a sudden deployment of more than 45,000 paramilitaries. As tension mounted on the afternoon of 4 August, a reporter based in the state’s capital, Srinagar, told RSF: “It’s a war-like situation here. The government may terminate mobile and Internet services anytime.” The reporter can no longer be reached.