Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/SRINAGAR: India carried out the highest number of internet shutdowns in the world in 2022, Access Now, an internet advocacy watchdog, said on Tuesday, as the South Asian country topped the list for the fifth consecutive year.
The New York-based digital rights advocacy group said that of 187 internet shutdowns internationally recorded, 84 took place in India, including 49 in India illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
Disrupted internet
The watchdog said that “Indian authorities disrupted internet access at least 49 times in the illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir due to political violence and instability, including a string of 16 back-to-back orders for three-day-long shutdowns in January and February the year 2022,”.
Kashmir has long been a flashpoint between Pakistan and India, which claim the region in full but rule only parts.
In 2019, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, scrapped the autonomy of the majority of the Muslim state of Jammu and Kashmir, splitting it into two federally administered territories.
The extremist Indian government has since imposed communications restrictions on the illegally occupied Kashmir on security grounds, which rights groups have condemned and expressed as measures to quash dissent.
Militants have battled India’s rule in the illegally occupied Kashmir for over three decades.
The watchdgi said that although India once again led the globe in internet shutdowns, the year 2022 marked the first time since 2017 that there were fewer than 100 shutdowns in India.
