Kashmir's internet blackout anniversary: How I lived through it - Business Insider

  • 📰 BusinessInsider
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 91 sec. here
  • 3 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 40%
  • Publisher: 51%

Business News News

Business Business Latest News,Business Business Headlines

I'm an Indian journalist who lived through Kashmir's traumatic internet blackout, which started one year ago. Here's what it's like to have your freedoms ripped away for 213 days.

On August 5, 2019, India's Hindu nationalist government revoked the autonomy of the Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir region. The day before, it had cut off phone signals, mobile data, and broadband internet.

On August 4, 2019 — the day before India's Hindu nationalist government revoked the autonomy of the Jammu and Kashmir region — mobile and landline phone signals, mobile data, and broadband internet were shut down and a curfew was announced . My parents, who are in their mid 60s, left for the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca two days before communication was cut. They couldn't speak to us for more than a month. For the first time in my life, I couldn't greet them on the day of Eid. Their once-in-a-lifetime experience was filled with added anxieties and worries.

"How did you manage to access the internet?" he wrote, surprised and delighted. Our parents were worried about us, he added, but relieved to know that we were fine despite the curfew and total communications blackout.When they returned home after more than 40 days, it was an emotional reunion. We hugged each other at the airport. It broke my heart to see tears in their eyes.

Every time I left home for work, they would worry about not being able to ring me to check on me. There was no way I could contact them while I was out. Our mobiles were useless, lying in a corner. My mother never forgot to remind me to carry my ID card when I left home — just as she had when I was a teenager.The internet shut down had lasted for 213 days when slow, 2G mobile internet was restored on March 4.

By the end of 2019, more than 50,000 jobs had been lost in the handicraft sector from the internet shutdown — local artisans couldn't take fresh orders online from most of their clients outside the state and abroad. Kashmir Economic Alliance , a leading trade body, estimated that, in the first two months of the coronavirus lockdown, the handicraft business alone suffered further losses worth $4 million.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.

aah! so et tu fake! what realDonaldTrump calls 'the fake media'! the pic on ur tweet proves what u r suggesting to a certain group😉 may be u cover minorities of Kashmir savagely killed, raped n kicked out. and past 30 years, not able to return back! AartiTikoo TVMohandasPai

Dear sir / ma’am where were you when Kashmiri pundit and Sikhs were killed and raped. When houses were burned when children were orphaned. It all started then when a thread of trust was burn and raped on roads of Lal chowk

We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 729. in BUSİNESS

Business Business Latest News, Business Business Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Inside Proper Gnar, the First Black Woman-Owned, Beyoncé-Approved Skateboard Company'Skateboarders, they're always so accepting of different people. It also gives you time to be on your own. You can go skating and it's just you, your board, and your thoughts.' propergnar
Source: ELLE Magazine (US) - 🏆 472. / 51 Read more »

Inside Proper Gnar, the First Black Woman-Owned, Beyoncé-Approved Skateboard Company'Skateboarders, they're always so accepting of different people. It also gives you time to be on your own. You can go skating and it's just you, your board, and your thoughts.' propergnar propergnar propergnar will you ever make longboards
Source: ELLE Magazine (US) - 🏆 472. / 51 Read more »

Searchable database of Business Insider pitch decks - Business Insider[Thread] Startups convince investors to fund their ideas using pitch decks. Business Insider regularly seeks out and publishes these decks to give readers an inside look at how successful companies persuaded investors to fund them. For the first time, these decks—presentations that combine slideshows with storytelling—have been combined into a single, searchable library that you can explore. 👇
Source: BusinessInsider - 🏆 729. / 51 Read more »

Business Insider webinar: How influencers earn money in pandemic - Business InsiderSIGN UP NOW: Next week we're talking to YouTube and Instagram influencers with millions of followers about how they're adapting their businesses during the pandemic and earning 6-figure incomes
Source: BusinessInsider - 🏆 729. / 51 Read more »

Business Insider's best investing stories of July 2020 - Business InsiderBusiness Insider is a fast-growing business site with deep financial, media, tech, and other industry verticals. Launched in 2007, the site is now the largest business news site on the web.
Source: BusinessInsider - 🏆 729. / 51 Read more »