Indian government blacks out internet in Kashmir
August 13, 2016 11:59 AM   Subscribe

Kashmir, where over 50 civilian protesters have been killed in recent days and where the Indian government has imposed a physical curfew in places to prevent more protests, has also been subjected to a total "e-curfew": both mobile and broadband internet have been shut down by the Indian government, the former for over a month now (link, link, link).

Meanwhile India's right-wing head of state Narendra Modi claims the causes of unrest are economics and Pakistan.
posted by splitpeasoup (12 comments total) 20 users marked this as a favorite
 
I just this morning started watching Vice on HBO Now, and the second episode (*trigger warning: extremely graphic violence/death and descriptions of severe abuse... applies to all episodes of Vice*) is about the North Korea/South Korea border and Kashmir. It looks like not much has changed, and I think that was from 2013.
posted by Huck500 at 12:15 PM on August 13, 2016


Internet Access Is Now A Basic Human Right. A non-binding UN resolution, which India opposed.
posted by Nelson at 12:15 PM on August 13, 2016 [9 favorites]


I am proud of my Indian heritage but I very much dislike the political shift into the right that has been happening over the last few years. In particular: media censorship and LGBTQ rights.

Get your shit together India, this is embarrassing and a travesty of human rights.
posted by Fizz at 1:04 PM on August 13, 2016 [7 favorites]


I found this article helpful in providing context and fleshing out the horror of what is going on. Apart from the civilians who have been killed, the government forces are also using pellet guns that can permanently blind victims.
posted by Aravis76 at 2:39 PM on August 13, 2016 [2 favorites]


Oh what the fuck, India.
posted by Kitteh at 2:44 PM on August 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


So much for the Silicon Valley dreams of internet powered revolution.
posted by monotreme at 3:36 PM on August 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


Tear gas in hospitals?! Just saw another article on the sidebar of one of the linked ones that has several pictures of protesting physicians.

Also reading about Burhan Wani makes me angry/sad. He watched his older brother Khalid get beat up by the Army, decided to take up arms at the age of 15 and was killed at the age of 22. He was a teacher's kid who loved cricket and instead of going to university, he joined the Hizbul Mujahideen.

I hadn't been following what has been happening in Kashmir recently but have been interested ever since a chance conversation I had on my one visit to India over 10 years ago. Thank you for this post.
posted by spamandkimchi at 4:01 PM on August 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


Here's a quote from an Al Jazeera round up of Kashmiri perspectives.
People say: "What is the difference? Haven't you ever been molested or assaulted by a civilian?" Yes, but the thing is, you know - a soldier has a gun.

Burhan challenged the whole narrative of a Pakistan-sponsored insurgency, because he was a Kashmiri, he never crossed the border, he picked up arms here and he never went for training to Pakistan.

Everyone thought of him as a son. When he was killed, that really angered everyone, young and old.
posted by spamandkimchi at 4:05 PM on August 13, 2016 [2 favorites]


The world's longest hunger strike just ended- protesting the law that gives the military broad powers and immunity from prosecution in certain states (including Kashmir).
posted by BungaDunga at 4:13 PM on August 13, 2016


What happened to the Google/FB/Musk projects to blanket the earth in LEO satellite internet coverage?


It was a bullshit PR stunt? Is this a trick question?
posted by signal at 4:44 PM on August 13, 2016


The world's longest hunger strike just ended- protesting the law that gives the military broad powers and immunity from prosecution in certain states (including Kashmir).

Previously (apologies for primping up my own FPP).
posted by Etrigan at 5:04 PM on August 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


It may not be getting the same amount of media attention as it once did, but (Alphabet/Google) X's Project Loon is still going. They published a video earlier in March discussing some of the challenges they're facing with scaling up. The Wikipedia article even has several incidents of recent balloon failures. If you'd like to follow their progress, there a Google Plus page with the occasional update.

Unfortunately, the fantasy "do no evil" version of Google doesn't exist anymore, and due to the technologies involved, the project only works with the cooperation of local telecom companies. So in the case of a government-ordered shut down, the Internet would still get shut off, wether it comes from Google Internet balloons or more conventional towers.
posted by fragmede at 4:49 AM on August 14, 2016


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