Srinagar, Publish Date: Jan 2 2018
With 29 instances of Internet shutdown, Kashmir has witnessed highest number of clampdowns on the facility during the year 2017.
According to a Delhi based website, internetshutdowns.in that keeps track of the Internet curbs across India, the Internet across Kashmir has remained shut 57 times from 2012-17.
According to the website run by pro bono legal services firm Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC), Kashmir has witnessed (57), most Internet curbs in the subsequent years from 2012-2017.
The data says in the year 2017 alone there have been 29 instances of Internet shutdown. Of late, Kashmir has been witnessing frequent Internet curbs whenever gunfights or protests erupt.
Terming the frequent curbs on the Internet access as a violation of human rights, the website writes: “…these shutdowns threaten the democratic working of nations, and also point to the gradual normalisation of the mindset that permits such blanket restriction on Internet access”.
Followed by Kashmir is the western Indian state Rajasthan, where Internet was snapped nine times during farmer protests and communal tensions.
It has been for the first time in last five years that the Internet was stopped in twin state capital Chandigarh in 2017 for three consecutive days, following protests by Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram’s followers.
