Skinder Gull
Continuous Lockdown and snapping of internet in south Kashmir districts has paralyzed life in the Pulwama and Shopian districts as thousands of students are suffering especially due to snapped internet.
The frequent internet shutdowns in the Valley, especially the worst hit districts of Shopian and Pulwama has affected business as well as education.
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Students and aspirants of different competitive examinations who have applied for different government jobs are facing hardships, Locals told The Kashmiriyat.
Shahid Shafi Shah from Hermain Shopian, who is preparing his exams said the because of snapped internet he could not prepare well.
“Times have changed. We can’t cover all the syllabus through books. Use of internet is must for better results but the government here is playing with our career banning Internet every second week,” Shah told The Kashmiriyat.
Businesses have also been worst affected by the internet ban. Shaibir Ahmed, a resident of Muran area in Pulwama, said that he planned to start an online business but frequent internet bans were becoming a hurdle.
Residents of the twin districts said their life has been paralysed both by constant internet bans, The internet ban shuts down services like PAN, Aadhar, Passport filing, and even ATMs.
Suhail Ahmad Khan, a resident of Pulwama said that government must think over the internet ban and come up with some alternative.
When contacted a senior Police official, he said the internet was shut over the rumour videos of Cops resigning from Police jobs and said that the Internet services in these twin districts will be restored after the law and order problem in the twin districts is over.
Internet bans which became a norm post the killing of Burhan Wani in July 2016, has seen 7,000 people working in the IT Sector loose their jobs.
Post August, when the Government of India abrogated the special status of Jammu Kashmir the Authorities shut down the internet, it was restored at least four months post the abrogation, but at a reduced (2G) speed.
According to a study by the Stanford University titled (of Blackouts and Bandhs): The Strategy and Structure of Disconnected Protest in India shows that most of the blackouts have happened in Kashmir as India witnessed 134 network shutdowns in 2018 alone and more than 100 in 2016-17.