For the first time in seven months, people in Kashmir can use WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and other social media services.
Srinagar| After seven months, the Jammu & Kashmir administration on Wednesday temporarily lifted the ban on social media although mobile Internet speeds would be restricted to 2G till further orders.
Wired broadband internet services in the Kashmir Valley will be restored in full and access to social media websites will be permitted from this evening, a senior BSNL official said.
The absence of whitelist websites with the latest order –– which the administration used to publish with similar orders earlier—meant that all websites, including social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other platforms could be accessed.
However, mobile internet services will continue to be restricted, with only low-speed 2G networks operational and high-speed 4G networks still blocked.
An order issued by Shaleen Kabra, Principal Secretary (Home) of the Jammu and Kashmir government, also said unfettered access to social media platforms and other websites on wired broadband lines, and 2G networks was effective only till March 17 unless extended before then.
In January the government had partially restored broadband access for certain institutions in the Valley.
At that time social media websites had been blocked; only access to 1,674 government-approved websites, which included those dealing with “essential services such as e-banking”, had been allowed.
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Iltija Mufti, daughter of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who is one of three senior opposition leaders detained by the government since August, tweeted after the ban on social media websites was lifted, saying the J&K administration had “finally realised the futility of of a ban”.
Seems like J&K admin finally realised futility of ban on SM since Kashmiris circumvented it through VPNs. Simply became a cat & mouse chase where Kashmiris outwitted state apparatus i.e.Big Brother
— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) March 4, 2020
On Wednesday evening (local time), several people in Kashmir confirmed that they were able to access WhatsApp and other social media services again. Some well-known Kashmiris took to twitter to express how they were feeling after the internet was restored.
I've been in Kashmir with no access to the Internet all this while. Don't know how to reconcile with this new reality. God bless Muslims of India who have to face govt sponsored violence every day now. My condolences to the victims' families
Inna lillahi wa inna illaihi raji'oon https://t.co/y1RePahZ1A
— Shehla Rashid (@Shehla_Rashid) March 4, 2020
My first tweet from #Kashmir outside of govt set media centre & without using a VPN. Have nothing exceptional to say except that tweeting so comfortably from home feels unreal.
Also, is anyone else in #Kashmir finding it unnerving/weird to get continuous updates on whatsapp?— Azaan Javaid (@AzaanJavaid) March 4, 2020
This tweet is brought to you from my desktop, from my office, after seven months. #Kashmir
— Naveed Iqbal (@NaveedIqbal) March 4, 2020
The centre has justified the restrictions and said that due to the preventive steps, not a single life was lost and not a single bullet was fired.
Kashmir has been through the longest internet shutdown in any democracy. Kashmir’s chamber of commerce has said the shutdown has cost over $2.6 billion and over 1 lakh people have lost their jobs.
(With input from PTI)
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