Though even United Nations human rights experts have sought revocation of the government ban on social media in Kashmir, but the helmsmen in Delhi are turning a deaf ear and blind eye to the cries of united nations human rights experts and this shows the respect of the Modi government for the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed even under the Constitution of India. It is laughable that one hand Modi government denies to engage itself with those Kashmiri political groups who don’t respect the Constitution of India but this very government has itself disrespected the Constitution of India by putting a blanket ban on accessibility to social media in Kashmir just to deny the people of Jammu & Kashmir the right to freedom of speech and expression on international networking sites. It looks strange when people see largest democracy of the world (India) rejecting the international demands for revocation of ban on social media in Jammu and Kashmir and dialogue with stakeholders in Kashmir. If at all the government’s contention that social media is misused by youth in Kashmir is to be believed, the same does not give government a liberty to punish the whole population for the fault of a few. So by all standards of understandabilities the ban on social media in Kashmir is a “collective punishment” and the decision as such is a brazen violation of the international standards of the freedom of speech and expression.
Denying accesses to social media has ultimately disrupted the free exchange of ideas on the current crisis in Kashmir and bans on such accesses are furthering the causes of provocation but not the purposes of restoration of peace in the state.
Though it is humiliating for India claiming to be the largest democracy of the world to see UN human rights experts saying “the scope of these restrictions has a significantly disproportionate impact on the fundamental rights of everyone in Kashmir, undermining the government’s stated aim of preventing dissemination of information that could lead to violence”,but the helmsmen in Delhi overseeing present situation in Kashmir are not responsive to the condemnation of even the UN human rights experts. Though government claims that the anger mounted by a series of viral videos showing including the one showing a man tied to an army jeep in Budgam district generated fresh cycle of street violence in several parts of Kashmir, but the law enforcement authorities now owe an explanation for seeing many more videos going viral including the one showing top Hizb Commander Zakir Musa making a controversial remark about joint separatist leadership in Kashmir and this is happening despite a ban on social media in valley . Though government on April 17, banned 22 social media sites and applications, including Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, in an attempt to stop people from spreading rumours and uploading controversial videos, but the ban has been largely ineffective as people in Kashmir have circumvented the gag using virtual private networks (VPNs). By all standards of understandabilities the ban on social media did not stop people from posting controversial videos that go viral on social networking sites accessed by tech savvy people with the help of virtual private networks (VPNs) but instead attracted international condemnation and that too from UN human rights experts. Denying accesses to social media has ultimately disrupted the free exchange of ideas on the current crisis in Kashmir and bans on such accesses are furthering the causes of provocation but not the purposes of restoration of peace in the state.
