Mobile internet restored across most of Kashmir

By Hilal Mir

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir (AA) - The government of Indian-administered Kashmir restored mobile internet services Monday in eight of the 10 districts in the Kashmir Valley after five days of a communications lockdown that was imposed shortly after the death of iconic pro-freedom leader Syed Ali Geelani.

Anticipating public demonstrations, the government shut mobile phone and internet networks except for lesser used state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited’s fixed line and postpaid phones and broadband internet, depriving more than 8 million people of access to communications. Mobile phone service was restored Saturday night.

Police said a decision on restoring mobile internet in the capital Srinagar and neighboring Budgam district will be taken on Tuesday.

The Indian government frequently shuts internet services in the region, especially after the killing of militants whose funerals until the outbreak of COVID-19 witnessed massive public participation marked by anti-India sloganeering.

The Muslim-majority region witnessed a months-long communications lockdown after the Indian government scrapped its autonomous status on Aug. 5, 2019.

The 91-year-old Geelani died Wednesday night after a prolonged illness at his residence where he had been under house detention for the better part of the past decade. He had willed that he be buried in the region’s largest cemetery, the Martyrs Graveyard in Srinagar, but the police, fearing widespread participation of people, did not let it happen.

Geelani’s son Naseem had told several media outlets that the police had taken custody of his father’s body, beat family members and buried it in a nearby graveyard. Family members were only allowed to offer prayers the next morning, he said.

A video that went viral on social media showed family members, including shrieking and crying women, arguing with the police after the body had been taken away.

In a statement, however, the police said it “facilitated in bringing the body from the house to the graveyard as there was apprehension that miscreants might take undue advantage of situation.”

- Disputed territory

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.

Since they were partitioned in 1947, India and Pakistan have fought three wars – in 1948, 1965 and 1971. Two of them were over Kashmir.

Also, in the Siachen glacier region in northern Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani troops have fought intermittently since 1984. A cease-fire took effect in 2003.

Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.

According to several human rights organizations, thousands have reportedly been killed in the conflict since 1989.