Baramulla:: As the situation in Jammu and Kashmir is under control, the police will review and restore the internet soon, said Director-General of Police (DGP) Dilbag Singh on Friday.
"Situation is absolutely under control. Not even one incident occurred in the last two days. People cooperated, security forces are working with great restraint. I congratulate people. They have faith in peace." said the DGP when asked about the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir after the death of former Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
"We will soon have a review and I think we will restore it soon," he said while replying to reporters on internet shutdown.
Reason for shutdown
The restrictions and internet shutdown were imposed on Kashmir valley after the demise of former Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on September 1.
Earlier on Wednesday, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti informed that Geelani passed away at the age of 91.
Geelani had resigned from the All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) in June this year.
From 2012 to 2021, there have been a total of 300 internet shutdowns imposed by the government authorities in Jammu and Kashmir, according to the website statista.com.
Earlier in February, high-speed mobile internet was on Friday restored in the entire union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, exactly one and a half years after it was snapped in August 2019 when the Centre had abrogated the special status of the erstwhile state.
The communication and internet blockades imposed in Jammu and Kashmir are premised on a dubious, vague and evasive legal framework easily exploitable for authorities to inflict ‘collective punishment’ and ‘criminalise all forms of political interactions and mobilisation’ as ‘terrorist related’ and threats to ‘national security,’ a new report has observed.
According to InternetShutdowns.in, Kashmir accounted for nearly half of total 413 internet outages that India has seen from 2012 to mid-2020.
The legal basis of such shutdowns in Kashmir has previously remained shrouded in secrecy, but that ended on January 2020 when the Supreme Court pronounced its verdict in Anuradha Bhasin vs Union of India and endorsed the principle of proportionality for internet shutdowns. The judgment also read procedural safeguards into the Telecom Suspension Rules, mandating that all such suspension orders be made publicly available, a timeframe for suspension be specified and a review committee set up.
