India to lift up lengthy internet clampdown in Kashmir
06 February, 2021
Authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir said Friday (Feb 5) they might restore high-speed web access in your community, bringing to an end what rights groups experience called one of the world's longest net clampdowns.
New Delhi imposed a communications shutdown on Aug 5, 2019 found in restive Kashmir to quell unrest after it revoked the region's semi-autonomy and brought it under direct rule.
Access to slow, 2G internet for mobile and fixed-line subscribers was first restored in March 2020, but high-speed 4G gain access to remained blocked.
Authorities in that case issued fortnightly orders restricting mobile info speeds, with the most recent rolling ban because of expire on Saturday.
"4G mobile internet services being restored in complete J&K," Rohit Kansal, a spokesman for the Jammu & Kashmir territory, tweeted late Friday.
No more details were released, but an AFP journalist in Kashmir's main town of Srinagar reported a jump in mobile phone internet speeds right before midnight local time.
The 4G announcement follows international scrutiny on internet blackouts around India's capital New Delhi, where farmers protesting new agriculture laws have already been camping out for more than two months.
Pop superstar Rihanna and climate activist Greta Thunberg tweeted a web link to a news tale about the blackouts and commented over the protests Tuesday, triggering a furious response from the international ministry which slammed the "sensationalist" social media remarks.
In Kashmir, officials had said internet constraints were had a need to clamp down on protests and prevent armed rebels - who have been challenging Indian guideline since 1989 in fighting which has killed thousands of people, usually civilians - from launching attacks on government forces.
Apart from the shutdown, authorities often chop usage of mobile internet services found in parts of the region, fearing unrest or during gun battles between rebels and Indian soldiers.
India --the world's biggest democracy - restricted internet access more regularly than any other country in 2020, imposing over 75 blackouts, many in Kashmir, according to British virtual private networks analysis site Top10VPN.com.
Human Rights Watch this past year called for complete access to the internet to be restored found in Kashmir, saying it had badly afflicted businesses, students' usage of education and medical providers during the coronavirus pandemic.
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