Panic grips Kashmir amid new crackdown on social media users

NEW DELHI: Yahia Mir is careful not to take his smartphone along when he steps out of his home in Srinagar, capital of Indian-administered Kashmir. He is scared security personnel might assault him if they find he has been using the Internet. 
“Tell me how do you expect life to be normal when there is no Internet,” the 23-year-old journalism student, whose name has been changed on request, told Arab News on Wednesday.
In a recent incident, Mir narrated, his friend was beaten by officers who found a virtual private network (VPN) application installed on his phone.
“Everyone in the valley is using VPNs to connect with the outside world,” Mir said.
Internet services remain largely blocked in Kashmir since New Delhi revoked its semi-autonomous status in August.
To bypass the firewall, people in the valley turned to VPNs, which allow users to change their location to go around regional Internet blockades.
While in late January the Indian government announced it would ease Internet restrictions, a new crackdown is underway as police in Srinagar on Tuesday registered multiple cases against social media users under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). According to a police statement, action is being taken against those who have misused social media sites for propagating “secessionist ideology and promoting unlawful activities.”
Legal professional Deeba Ashraf said “it feels that we are living in 19th century. My profession demands that I remain updated on recent cases … and how is it possible without Internet? In the era of 4G, the government is giving access to 2G services where you can’t open a single webpage.”
“Not only common people, even security personnel are using VPN,” she said. “Now they are banning VPN also.
“I have lost trust in the government and I don’t see which way Kashmir is going. VPN is not a good proxy server to use but we are compelled to resort to this proxy. The government’s crackdown scares everyone. But I wonder, does the government have any policy for Kashmir besides lockdown?”
A computer engineer from Srinagar, Muddasar (name changed), told Arab News that besides being paralyzed in his work, which requires the Internet, he feels a sense of fear increasing in the valley. “Imagine security forces are also checking your phone and trying to see what kinds of apps are stored in your mobile. Will you call it a sign of normalcy?”
Iltiza Mufti, daughter of the detained former chief minister of Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti, told reporters in New Delhi that “the clampdown in Kashmir had had a huge cost” and the region is grappling with “an economic, psychological and emotional crisis.”
“The rest of the country and the envoys who visited Kashmir were told that we enjoy equal rights, but in reality you can’t even use VPN in Kashmir right now. What rights do Kashmiris have right now?” she said on Tuesday.
Srinagar-based political analyst Gowhar Geelani sees the situation as an “official admission by the Indian government” of thought control being imposed on the entire population of Kashmir.
“We see darker days ahead and not much hope,” he said.