Most people in Kashmir and parts of Jammu will continue to have no access to the internet as the government has decided to restore the facility only on a limited scale and without access to social media and internet-based messaging services like WhatsApp.
According to a government announcement on Wednesday, broadband facility will be restored in government offices, for tour and travel operators and other businesses in Kashmir but without access to Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp due to a firewall.
The sites that will be accessible have been characterised as white-list implying that not all sites can be accessed. The government has justified the restrictions on access to social media citing threat to national security.
In Jammu region, 2G services will be restored for post-paid mobiles only in districts of Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Reasi and Udhampure. In Muslim majority districts like Kishtwar Doda, Rajouri and Poonch mobile internet will continue to be suspended.
Broadband services were restored in Jammu a few weeks after the revocation of Article 370. Private internet service provider Jio Fire commenced services in Jammu since August last year.
The government also said that it will set up 400 internet kiosks in Kashmir. These 400 internet kiosks are in addition to 834 internet terminals set up in government departments.
Most people in Kashmir have reacted with disbelief over the government’s limited restoration of the internet and restriction to social media and internet-based messaging services.
“The Supreme Court in its order to the government has said access to the internet is part of freedom of speech but government seems unmoved,’’ said Asif Ahmed, a businessman.
Financial analysts Syed Ashfaq said limited restoration of internet and no access to social media change nothing for the people in Kashmir.
“It will not help businessman revive their business that has suffered after the revocation of Article 370,’’ he said.
Houseboat owner Tariq Patloo said he was hoping that the government would acknowledge the problems faced by those associated with the tourism business but the announcement has come as a big disappointment.
Doctors in Kashmir believe the denial to access the social media could manifest in mental issues as social media was an essential means for people, especially the youth, to vent their feelings and pent up emotions. They believe that social media has become a source of catharsis for people in Kashmir in absence of avenues of entertainment and fun.
On a day when the government announced the restoration of limited internet in Kashmir, three Malaysian women tourists came to the media center, where the government has set up internet facility for journalists, to access the internet to connect with their families in Malaysia.
The women, Reena, Edda and Yous Linda, said they came to Kashmir last week but were unable to contact their families in Malasiya as the pre-paid SIM cards they were carrying didn’t function in Kashmir.
Wiping tears, while texting her kin back home, Reena said they felt stranded in the hard weather after their phones stopped working in Kashmir.
The three women, accompanied by a Kashmiri tour operator Ghulam Geelani, stayed at the media center for about 30 minutes before rushing back to a houseboat at Dal lake.
“The government’s claim that it has established internet facility for the tourists in Kashmir is false,’’ Geelani said. “Look how these women suffered due to the ban on the internet in Kashmir.”
