Over 21,500 broadband connections not restored by India in occupied Kashmir
Over 32,000 landlines in the Srinagar region are still not working even after day 20 of the lockdown
SRINAGAR (Dunya News) – Even after the 20th day of severe lockdown in the occupied Kashmir, the Indian authorities did not restore over 21,500 broadband connections owing to communications blackout.
According to the KMS, as per official figures, the 10 districts of Kashmir valley have over 44,000 landline connections and 21,500 dedicated broadband Internet connections.
A senior official of a telecom company said the Srinagar region, comprising Srinagar, Ganderbal and Budgam districts, had 32,000 landlines and 15,000 broadband connections. Except for the restoration of some telephone exchanges in Srinagar district, a majority of the 32,000 landlines in the Srinagar region are still not working, while broadband connections have still not been restored, he said.
Likewise in the Baramulla region, comprising Bandipora, Baramulla and Kupwara districts, a majority of the nearly 5,000 telephone lines have not been restored yet and 2,500 broadband connections are still not functioning, reports said.
The south Kashmir region, comprising Islamabad, Pulwama, Shopian and Kulgam districts, is still incommunicado since August 5, with a majority of the total 7,000 landlines in the region not yet restored by the authorities.
Reports said that south Kashmir had over 4,000 broadband Internet connections which continued to be blocked.
Internet connections of different commercial establishments and media houses have still not been restored by the authorities.
On Aug 5, communications blackout in disputed Kashmir took place after India snapped television, telephone and internet links to deter protests over its scrapping of special constitutional status for the Himalayan region.
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.
