Srinagar, Jun 2: People — mostly students, professionals, traders and media persons — continued to suffer due to frequent gag on mobile internet and suspension of high speed internet from last about 10 months in Kashmir valley.
Meanwhile, the minor examination of students from Polytechnic College, Islamic University of Sciences and Technology (IUST), was postponed due to suspension of internet in south Kashmir district of Pulwama, where two militants were killed in an encounter with security forces on Tuesday.
The frequent gag on internet last month, coupled with suspension of high speed internet in the valley has badly affected studies of students, who are relying on online classes following of closure of all educational institutes in view of nationwide lockdown to curtail spread of COVID-19.
Last month the mobile internet service was suspended for about 10 days in the valley. However, the intermittent gag on mobile internet service in selected areas of the valley lasted for more days, badly affected the lives of the people living in the valley. The month of May also witnessed gag on cellular services, barring BSNL, for few days. The gag on these services last month also affected contact tracing and other measures required for combating COVID-19 pandemic that has so far claimed 31 lives in the Union Territory (UT).
“We have already missed on our education last year due to unrest post abrogation of Article 35 A and Article 370. And this year, we are facing similar situation due to COVID-19 pandemic,” Yahiya Bhat, a class 12th student, told UNI.
He said the students were hopeful that they will be able to cover some ground through online classes, but frequent suspension and low speed mobile internet has again put them on backhand. Similar, views were expressed by other students.
Meanwhile, professionals dependent on internet also expressed concern over the frequent and low speed internet. “I work for a Multi-national company based in Delhi. I have been working from home in Kashmir from last one-year. But, frequent gag on internet is badly affecting my performance. Last year, I had to relocate to Delhi and working there after internet was suspended for about five months post abrogation of special status of J&K on August 5,” Irfan Saleem, a medical transcriptor, told UNI.
Saleem said the low speed internet is also a cause of concern as it take a lot of time to upload and download files he require for his work. “If such situation continues, I would have to permanently relocate to outside J&K,” he added.
People in the valley were hopeful that Supreme Court (SC) would come to their aid and ask centre and J&K administration to restored 4 G internet services as the apex court had only in January declared that conducting business over the internet is a fundamental right.
But, people expressed disappointment after the SC constituted a special committee to consider pleas for restoring 4G internet services in Jammu and Kashmir last month. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Secretary will head the special panel and the Secretary of Ministry of Communications and the Chief Secretary of the Union Territory would be the members.
The apex court said that national security and human rights interests must be balanced in view of the fact the Union Territory has been ‘plagued with militancy’. Weeks about the SC order, the J&K government last month extended the gag in high speed internet to June 17.
Jammu and Kashmir government in the last week of January lifted six-month long ban on mobile internet. However, only 2G services were restored, creating problem for those who might want to attend classes or study online.
The SC said it was ‘desirable’ to have better internet services in the Union Territory amid the global coronavirus pandemic and a nationwide lockdown. “However, the fact that outside forces are trying to infiltrate the borders and destabilise the integrity of the nation, as well as cause incidents resulting in the death of innocent citizens and security forces every day cannot be ignored,” Justices N V Ramana, R Subhash Reddy and B R Gavai said in their order on May 11.
The apex court said it takes “with utmost seriousness” the sensitive task of balancing “national security and human rights” and referred to its earlier judgement in which it held that “the degree of restriction and the scope of the same, both territorially and temporally, must stand in relation to what is actually necessary to combat an emergent situation.”
Meanwhile, the gag on high speed internet was on April 27 extended through an order issued by J&K administration, crushing the hopes of students, who were keen on availing online classes to cover the academic losses due to the lockdown.
Mobile internet and broadband service of all Cellular companies was suspended in the Kashmir valley on August 5, 2019, when centre scrapped Article 370 and 35 A besides divided the state into two Union Territories (UTs).
Only 2G mobile internet service was resumed on January 25 though social media sites remained banned and government had directed people to assess only whitelisted sites. In the first week of March, broadband internet services of all cellular companies, including state-run BSNL, was restored after remaining suspended for over seven months while gag on social media was also lifted. But, the gag on high speed internet continued.(UNI)
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