SRINAGAR: Authorities in Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) on Wednesday ordered Internet service providers (ISPs) to block popular social media services, including Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, after an upsurge in violence in the region.
The local government said the services were “being misused by anti-national and anti-social elements” and should be blocked for a month or until further notice “in the interest of maintenance of public order”.
It is the first time the government has taken such a step, although it regularly blocks mobile Internet signal in the volatile valley.
Indian-held Kashmir has been tense since April 9, when eight people, including seven students, were killed by police and paramilitary forces during by-election violence.
Anti-India sentiment runs deep in the valley, one of the world’s most heavily militarised spots where most people favour independence or a merger with Pakistan.
Clashes between rebels and Indian occupation forces have become more frequent since the killing of rebel leader Burhan Wani last July sparked widespread unrest.
Authorities responded by imposing a curfew, suspending mobile networks in large parts of the territory and seizing newspapers to try to quell protests.
They say social media are being used increasingly frequently to rally crowds, which then attack government forces, often by throwing rocks at them. Social media are also being used by both sides in the conflict to spread images and video footage in a growing war of information.
A video released on social media sites earlier this month showed a man tied to a jeep being used as a human shield against stone-throwers by soldiers in Kashmir. The 11-second clip went viral and has sparked outrage and heated debate about the role of the Indian military.
Rights activists say Indian forces in Kashmir have been using human shields since the late 1980s, when an armed insurgency against Indian rule erupted across the territory. Roughly 500,000 Indian soldiers are deployed in the region.
Last Monday, police fired into a crowd of stone-throwing students, as violence in the Himalayan region intensified. Hundreds of student protesters shouting “We want freedom” and “Go India, go back” fought with government forces after taking to the streets of Srinagar.
An AFP reporter saw police fire live rounds as well as tear gas and water cannon to try to disperse the protesters as shoppers fled the violence and retailers shut down for the day.
The clashes broke out as colleges in the city reopened following skirmishes last week between students and government forces.
Nearly 100 students and around the same number of police were wounded in last week’s disturbances, which prompted authorities to temporarily shut down schools and universities.
On Wednesday, student protesters again took to the streets, clashing with government forces who used shotguns to disperse them. Students have staged almost daily protests in recent weeks, chanting slogans demanding freedom from India and throwing rocks at police.
They were angered by a raid earlier this month on a college in the southern district of Pulwama in which police tried to detain the alleged ringleaders of earlier protests. Government forces are not supposed to enter college or university premises without special permission.
Earlier this week, the IHK chief minister held talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the developing crisis. Mehbooba Mufti said after the meeting that dialogue was needed to calm the situation. “The first priority is to control the situation, because talks cannot take place amid bullets and stone-pelting,” she told reporters outside Modi’s residence after the meeting. Mufti’s PDP formed a governing alliance with Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after a 2015 election in the state. That has made her party hugely unpopular in the Indian-held Kashmir.
