Committee to Protect Journalists exposed Indian government claims of restoring internet services in Occupied Kashmir
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NEW YORK - The Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent watchdog body, has denounced as “complete farce” India’s claim of having partially restored internet access in occupied Jammu and Kashmir, saying many local news websites remain blocked.
Media organizations still lack broadband internet access 177 days after India annexed Jammu and Kashmir and enforced a communications shut down, CPJ pointed out.
Earlier this month, the Indian Supreme Court ruled that freedom of speech “using the medium of internet is constitutionally protected.”
“It is a complete farce for the Indian government to claim it is restoring internet if news websites are blocked and journalists do not have the speed and quality of service they need to do their essential work,” Aliya Iftikhar, CPJ’s senior Asia researcher, said in a statement on Tuesday.
“By continuing to control access to information, the Indian government is showing a complete disregard for the constitutional right to freedom of speech,” she said. “Full internet access should be restored immediately.”
