India to restore Kashmir’s internet access, but social media ban to remain

Access to 301 government-approved websites will be restored, including international news publications and platforms such as Netflix

Mobile phone data access will also be restored, but limited to slower 2G connections, Indian authorities said

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An Indian security officer patrols a street in Srinagar, Kashmir, on January 10, 2020. Photo: Reuters

Published: 3:10pm, 25 Jan 2020Updated: 3:21pm, 25 Jan 2020

Internet services will be partly restored in Indian-held Kashmir from Saturday, ending a five-and-a-half-month blackout imposed by the Indian government in the disputed region, but social media will stay offline, local authorities said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government imposed a communications blackout in early August when it stripped the portion of Kashmir it controls – the country’s only Muslim-majority region – of its partial autonomy.

India also imposed a curfew, sent in tens of thousands of extra troops and detained dozens of Kashmiri political leaders and others, many of whom remain in detention, drawing criticism abroad.

Internet access will be restored later Saturday, but only to 301 government-approved websites that include international news publications and platforms such as Netflix and Amazon.

“Access shall be limited only to the whitelisted sites and not to any social media applications,” the Jammu and Kashmir home department said in a notification.

Mobile phone data access will also be restored, but limited to slower second-generation (2G) connections, the department added.

India is the world leader in cutting internet services, activists say, and access was also temporarily suspended in other parts of the country during recent protests against a new citizenship law.