People from Kashmir valley are travelling in a huge number on a daily basis to the remote town of Banihal to avail internet. Banihal is a small town of 4000 people and has only 6 internet cafes to serve the massive number of disgruntled Kashmiris.
“The speed is very slow,” admitted Irfan, manager of one of the cafes where customers pay up to 3,000 rupees ($40) an hour to link their laptop to the snail’s-pace broadband.
“Scores of Kashmiris, mostly students and income tax professionals, come visiting every day,” said Irfan, who only gave one name.
Internet gag: Thousands fail to file IT return, staring at fine upto Rs 5,000 in Kashmir#incometaxindia#Kashmir#JammuKashmir#KashmirInternethttps://t.co/vi9HJWhcuJ pic.twitter.com/XYZKeTC2tu
— Ajay Verma (@av067) October 7, 2019
Traffic was still halted the next day and the students had to walk 10 kilometers past stranded cars and trucks to get back to Banihal railway station
In early August New Delhi made a sudden move to axe Kashmir’s semi-autonomous status, shutting down communications and sending tens of thousands of extra troops into what was already one of the world’s most militarised zones.
Asmita Bakshi reports on the #InternetBlockade in #India and how it compares with the rest of the world. In addition, the writer gives an in depth and detailed look into how people’s lives have been negatively affected.
(1/13) pic.twitter.com/BaAkUVPug1— Kashmir Gulposh (@KGulposh) December 9, 2019
While phone calls and very limited text messages are now possible, the internet is still down. Forcing people offline has crippled the economy and made it impossible to pay utility bills, make applications or just send a message to family outside the stricken zone.
Read more: Modi-led government is silencing journalists in occupied Kashmir
Some Kashmiris make special trips to New Delhi or Jammu city — an eight-hour drive from the regional capital Srinagar — to connect. Banihal, a two-hour train ride from Srinagar, is the nearest town with any access.
If you want to know how we get a brief access of internet at a government-run facilitation in Kashmir, headed by a female officer, this is our humiliating situation. And today it is 122nd day. #KashmirGagged #internetblockade @DrSyedSehrish @CPJAsia @RSF_inter @NWM_India @OHCHRAs pic.twitter.com/XSIIej6Ina
— Masrat Zahra (@Masratzahra) December 6, 2019
Internet trek
The government said it cut phones and the internet to prevent unrest in Kashmir, where an insurgency in the past three decades has left tens of thousands dead. India blames Pakistan, which also claims Kashmir, for the troubles.
To get to Banihal, students Bhat Musaddiq Reyaz and Aqeel Mukhtar fought their way onto a train at Awantipora — a town more than 100 kilometers (60 miles) away, south of Srinagar in the Kashmir valley.
“I tried getting internet at a government kiosk set up in my district but I waited for two hours on two different days and never got a turn,” said Reyaz as he waited for the train.
Forcing people offline has crippled the economy and made it impossible to pay utility bills, make applications or just send a message to family outside the stricken zone
The 19-year-old wanted to register for exams to gain access to a graduate medicine course. Mukhtar, 25, recently completed a degree in education and wanted to apply online for scholarships.
New post: Overload on Train to Kashmir’s Internet Oasis – ReadUseful #Internet #Kashmirs #Oasis #overloadhttps://t.co/1PrHUUkKUB
— Read Useful (@ReadUseful_Site) January 6, 2020
“It is a complete hassle to have to travel so much just to send applications online,” said Mukhtar. The two students took two hours on one train and then had to change to another which was another 90-minute standing trip to Banihal.
They waited in the snow for a bus to take them from the station to the town and its prized internet cafes in a crowded lane. Reyaz was able to complete his task. But when the pair returned to the railway station for the long trip home they were told the last train had been cancelled due to snow on the tracks.
Read more: Back to pre-internet stone age in offline Indian Kashmir
No taxis would take them but after a few hours, a truck driver heading to the Kashmir valley finally offered a lift. The truck also became stuck in the snow and the students had to sleep there for the night.
The #InternetBlockade in #Kashmir has exceeded over 135 days, making it the longest ever to be imposed by a democratic state.
What consequences do the people in Kashmir face as a result?#Article370 #InternetShutdowns #KeepItOn #LetTheNetWork pic.twitter.com/LcibBikXE7
— Feminism in India (@FeminismInIndia) December 27, 2019
Traffic was still halted the next day and the students had to walk 10 kilometers past stranded cars and trucks to get back to Banihal railway station. There, they waited seven hours for the only train that left that day.
Reyaz called his trek to make his application “unbelievable”. “Something that would take me half an hour at home, took me two gruelling days,” he said.
“I will never do this ever again in my life,” added Mukhtar.
AFP with additional input by GVS News Desk.