Cedric Leterme: A little over a year ago, on August 5, 2019, India revoked the autonomy that had governed the status of the Cachemire since 1947. This unprecedented escalation against the right to self-determination of the Cachemiris is accompanied by an "internet siege" of dramatic consequences, as revealed in a foul report by the "Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society"

The document is 125 pages long. The last tiers meticulously reconstituted the first 300 days of "internet security" that accompanied the last assassination date of the government indictment against the rights of the inhabitants of Cachemire. On August 5, 2019, the government officially revoked the status of autonomy that the Cachemire had been playing since the independence of the country in 1947. A few days earlier, he was preparing this historic decision by imposing a complete coup on communications (internet, telephone , television) since and towards the region.

Poster announcing the digital headquarters at Cachemire and Assam during the demonstrations by Shaheeh Bagh. January 7, 2020

Officially, it is about preserving public order and avoiding the dissemination of false information. In fact, it is above all to send the Cachemiris to communicate between them and with the exterior. The government of India is otherwise responsible for this technique. According to the authors of the report, the country is the first in the world in terms of internet coups. And the two thirds of these coups have targeted the Cachemire region. The digital siege that began on August 4 is arguably the longest in the country`s history. It`s also the longest for a democratic country and the second longest for the planet`s ladder - only Burma has better (or worse). It officially ended after 213 days with the partial restoration of 2G connections. But to date, all services have not been recovered and punctual interruptions continue to be imposed. It will have been distinctly different since 2020. And mobile internet is still limited to 2G.

For the authors of the report, this situation is about a massive and systematic violation of civil, political, economic and social rights guaranteed both by the Indian constitution and by international law. Internet access is in fact becoming a fundamental element of rights in information, communication or even free expression, but it also plays a crucial role in almost all dimensions of life in society. In the context of an armed conflict, its massive and prolonged restriction may be seen as a violation of international humanitarian law which, in particular, prosecutes any form of collective bargaining and imposes any measure affecting civilians who are "necessary" and "proportionate". ».

To list their affirmations, the authors expose the consequences of these attacks on the Internet in six areas: the right to subsistence; the right to health; the right to education; the right to justice; the freedom of the press and the right to social participation. Each part is punctuated by a testimony that shows the concrete consequences of these measures in the life of an individual or a family.

Minimized by Indian officials, the consequences of the Internet coup (and more communications) on Cachemiris` economic activity have been significant. In the key sectors for the economy of the region as the craft, tourism or horticulture, the fact of being private of the day on the lendemain of means of communication rendered almost impossible the continuation of activities. Many artisans, for example, depend on online commerce to track their production or internet to exchange with their suppliers. On the side of horticulturists, it is the Whatsapp messaging service that occupies a central position, which is meant to negotiate prices with market commissioners or to receive meteorological notifications. According to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Cachemire, on the five months that have followed the black out of the region, economic losses are estimated at around 180 billion rupees, and more than 500 000 people would lose their jobs on the same period.

In parallel, vital banking or government services for many Cachemiris have also been rendered inaccessible (or very difficult to access) due to imposed coupons. Habitats with restrictions on movements, businesses and residents of the region have, for example, massively resorted to e-banking solutions. For many, in the absence of the Internet, it becomes difficult, therefore, impossible to withdraw money or transfer (for example, to a child studying abroad), more so than the banks was not prepared for this situation. In the same way, many government programs in the image of the Federal Rural Employment Guarantee Program repose in whole or in part online procedures yields impossible access to the Internet…

In the field of health, access restrictions have also had dramatic consequences. Above all, because the Internet (and more generally telecommunications) are crucial for the organization, functioning and access to health care. Without internet or telephone, it is impossible to manage remote appointments, communicate between hospitals, coordinate emergency services or even ensure follow-up with patients, for example.

Next, because of the image of other government programs and services, those concerned with access to health care are now largely dependent on online procedures [5]. The registration and processing of related requests to a program that financially supports the access to health care of households located below the poverty line, is entirely online, for example. Without Internet access, many beneficiaries of this program are no longer able to care for themselves in hospitals.

Finally, in a context of extreme tension and violence, internet access restrictions have also exacerbated the mental health problems that afflict many residents of the region, now private communication with proxies, information sources or still communicate with mental health professionals.

In any case, it should be added that as of March 2020, the Cachemiris have also faced the epidemic of covid-19 without having the means of communication to allow them, especially to quickly access international recommendations or Government injections… Even partially recoverable, internet does not work between 2000 and 20 000 times less than in the rest of the world, with frequent cuts.

AN INTERMITTING AND TWO SPEED TEACHING

In terms of access to education, the situation at Cachemire was already catastrophic given the closure of schools and universities imposed for long months for security reasons, before the confinement linked to covid-19 does not take the relay for of sanitary reasons. But elsewhere in the world, online education has at least partially (and imperfectly) compensated for the closure of classes and amphitheaters, this option is not really available to Cachemire students. Even with the partial restoration of the Internet, the speed is too weak to ensure a minimum quality of online lessons or even to share resources. A teacher explains that he has five days to share a 30-minute video with his students.

The problem also poses to many students cachemiris that their parents intend to study elsewhere in India or abroad and who have to return home with them due to the pandemic. Unable to connect in convenient conditions to pursue their distance learning, they are found to be disadvantaged compared to their homologs who have normal connections.

THE RIGHT TO JUSTICE

The offensive against the Cachemire`s autonomy is also accompanied by an arbitrary arrest wave that essentially targets young men suspected of activities or "terrorist" sympathies. Or, in the absence of means of communication, their families have been left for weeks in uncertainty as to their sort. Unable to communicate between them or even with the authorities, they were not at all advantageous in finding out about the steps to be taken to contact a lawyer and even less to follow the legal procedure.

This situation has been aggravated by the fact that many detainees have been sent to prisons located outside the region, while communication with their family or their lawyer is even more difficult. They can also hardly compare according to the expected modalities, and including when virtual comparisons were organized accounted for the poor quality of internet connection.

Largerly, this is all the normal functioning of justice that has been disrupted (ex: planning of hearings, information, downloading of documents), in the measure where it also rests more on digital tools. During the confinement linked to covid-19, only the urgent cases should have been heard, but still failed to communicate and defend the fact that one case was urgent. And yet it turned out, in the folly, that the opportunities for online audiences were both real and functional, which were far from being the case for most of the time.

A MUSEUM PRESS

In terms of press freedom, the Cachemiris did not attend until August 2019 because the situation is dramatic. However, new pillars were franchised on this occasion. As the report points out, India is tombé in 2019 at the 142nd position of the freedom press index produced by Reporter sans frontière (RSF), a dégringolade «greatly affected by the situation in Cachemire where, after having been revoked the autonomy of the region, the federal government has completely cut off fixed internet and mobile connections for several months, making it virtually impossible for journalists to cover what happened in what became a permanent prison open »according to the terms of the `ONG [6].

Already subject to conditions of employment at "normal" times, journalists working at Cachemire are found in the inability to access their sources, particularly in the most reclaimed places with which they are essentially exchanged by Whatsapp. It is also impossible to communicate correctly between them or with their editors. And also difficult to access official information, would not be for the verifier and, possibly, the nurse. As a result, little or no information is circulating internally and vis-à-vis the exterior, and official authorities have a near-complete monopoly on the rare information produced at the exterior. As one journalist put it in the report: "It`s not even censorship, what you can or cannot report. It`s about being cut off from the world and left on the sidelines.

To circumvent this situation, many journalists have decided to try to send their articles and images on the USB keys directly to Delhi, which implies to return to the airport and find someone who agrees to do so. the relay. In parallel, the Indian government has made it available to the "facilitation center" for journalists, but those who are supervised and supervised, without mentioning the conditions of connectivity still and still indifferent.

AN ATTACK AGAINST SOCIAL LIFE THAT RELEASES A COLLECTIVE CHAIR

Finally, there is the militarization and repression that has steadily increased the daily life in Cachemire for decades, social networks have progressively become one of the main principles and tools of socialization of Cachemiris. As one witness stated in the report: "Social media has allowed the Cachemiris to humanize their struggle through photo and video bias. In a region affected by violence, platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter represent 90% of our social life. It`s what you`ve up to when you block them. »[8]

This loss of bonds concerns the spheres of family, friends, culture and politics. The young, for example, are cut off from the possibility of exchanging between them, but also with the rest of the world. Families have been incapable of transmitting information regarding a disease or death. Certainly, the attempts to bypass existing restrictions, which are physically in place or places where connections are better (or less bad), but often at the price of several hours of travel. It still has recourse to tools such as VPNs but also with tools related to tools, as well as general connectivity conditions.

Only console (maigre) consolation, these policies of coups of means of communication are sometimes counter-productive for the power of India and its relays in place, these latter are also found private of information sources that allow them to habitually monitor the population.

The conclusion of the report is unappealing: “the digital siege affects the lives of ordinary Cachemiris, training them in the elaboration and execution of their human rights, their opportunities and their aspirations. This siege is a deliberate means of repairing social, economic and political bonds between the Cachemiris, all in isolation from the rest of the world. For the already vulnerable population of Jammu-et-Cachemire, which lives in a state of perpetual war and emergency, these measures establish a "numerical apartheid" which constitutes a form of discriminatory treatment and systemic and generalized punitive treatment.