Curfew and comms blackout led residents to suspect Delhi was about to strip region of autonomy

When Gauhar Siraj woke on Monday, he realised something was about to happen. He’d travelled to Kashmir for a wedding, and tension had been building all week. Then in the morning: “Bam, there’s a curfew, internet is cut, telephone lines are snapped, you can’t make any kind of communication,” he says. Outside, access to main roads in Srinagar, the largest city in Indian-administered Kashmir, had been blocked.

Hours later, the Indian government announced the most radical change any government has suggested for Kashmir since the region joined the Indian union. It would revoke Kashmir’s special status and divide the state in two.

The move immediately angered Pakistan, which also claims Kashmir, and provoked warnings from China, which holds a thinly populated area in the disputed region.

In Kashmir, people watched the news unfold on TV, the only source of information, and began to meet on the streets in residential areas, where some movement was still allowed. “Because the internet was down, telephones were down, so people congregated in small groups everywhere within the residential areas … There was this apprehension that things are going to get worse because this is what India does,” said Siraj, who spoke to the Guardian after flying to Delhi on Monday night.

Quick guide Kashmir Show Hide Who controls Kashmir? The region in the foothills of the Himalayas has been under dispute since India and Pakistan came into being in 1947. Both claim it in full, but each controls a section of the territory, separated by one of the world's most heavily militarised borders: the ‘line of control’ based on a ceasefire border established after a 1947-48 war. China controls another part in the east.

India and Pakistan have gone to war a further two times over Kashmir, most recently in 1999. Artillery, mortar and small arms fire are still frequently exchanged. How did the dispute start? After the partition of colonial India in 1947, small, semi-autonomous ‘princely states’ across the subcontinent were being folded into India or Pakistan. The ruler of Kashmir dithered over which to join until tribal fighters entered from Pakistan intent on taking the region for Islamabad. Kashmir asked Delhi for assistance, signing a treaty of accession in exchange for the intervention of Indian troops, who fought the Pakistanis to the modern-day line of control. In 1948, the UN security council called for a referendum in Kashmir to determine which country the region would join or whether it would become an independent state. The referendum has never been held. In its 1950 constitution, India granted Kashmir a large measure of independence. But since then it has eroded some of that autonomy and repeatedly intervened to rig elections and dismiss and jail democratically elected leaders. What was Kashmir’s special status? Kashmir’s special status, given in exchange for joining the Indian union, had been in place since 14 May 1954. Under article 370, the state was given a separate constitution, a flag, and autonomy over all matters except for foreign affairs and defence.

An additional provision, article 35a, prevented people from outside the state buying land in the territory. Many Kashmiris believed this was crucial to protecting the demography of the Muslim-majority state and its way of life. The ruling Bharatiya Janata party repeatedly promised to scrap such rules, a long-term demand of its Hindu nationalist support base. But analysts warned doing so would almost certainly ignite unrest. On Wednesday 31 October 2019, the government formally revoked Kashmir’s special status. The government argued that the provision had only ever intended to be temporary and that scrapping it would boost investment in Kashmir. Critics, however, said the move would escalate tensions with Pakistan – which quickly called India’s actions illegal – and fuel resentment in Kashmir, where there is an insurgency against Indian rule. What do the militants want? There has been an armed insurgency against Indian rule over its section of Kashmir for the past three decades. Indian soldiers and Pakistan-backed guerrillas fought a war rife with accusations of torture, forced disappearances and extra-judicial killing.

Until 2004, the militancy was made up largely of Pakistani and Afghan fighters. Since then, especially after protests were quashed with extreme force in 2016, locals have made up a growing share of the anti-India fighters. For Indians, control of Kashmir – part of the country’s only Muslim-majority state – has been proof of its commitment to religious pluralism. For Pakistan, a state founded as a homeland for south Asian Muslims, it is the last occupied home of its co-religionists.



Michael Safi and Rebecca Ratcliffe

Concerns had mounted over the last week as a series of government orders leaked to the media began to provoke panic. One told Indian Railways staff in the Kashmir valley to stock enough dry rations to last four months and forecast a “deteriorating situation”. An extra 10,000 troops were sent to the already heavily militarised territory, prompting fears Delhi might be about to remove Kashmir’s special status.

Rumours intensified further when, in an unprecedented move, the government curtailed a Hindu pilgrimage to a Himalayan cave shrine – a 45-day trek that about 300,000 people had embarked upon since July. Pilgrims and tourists rushed to the airport and several governments, including Britain’s, warned against all travel to Jammu and Kashmir.

The Indian government cited security risks and said it had found evidence of attacks planned on pilgrim routes, but analysts questioned whether the action had been proportionate. Curfews and evacuations continued to be imposed on hospitals and educational institutions in Kashmir over the weekend.

Quick guide Where in the world have governments imposed internet and telephone blackouts? Show Hide Governments around the world have used internet blackouts, or blocked popular platforms such as WhatsApp, at times of political crisis. Several countries have also used temporary outages to try to foil cheats in national exams. Netblocks monitors outages worldwide, and has recorded dozens of cases this year alone. But it is rare for all communication, including phone lines, to be severed. Countries that have limited their citizens’ communications, both temporarily and long-term, in recent years include: India partially restored internet access in Kashmir in January 2020 after an unprecedented five-month blackout, but only for institutions providing “essential services”, while social media sites were still be banned. In March restrictions were lifted further. All mobile and broadband internet connections had been suspended when the government revoked the decades-long special status of Jammu and Kashmir, which had given the region autonomy.

partially restored internet access in Kashmir in January 2020 after an unprecedented five-month blackout, but only for institutions providing “essential services”, while social media sites were still be banned. In March restrictions were lifted further. All mobile and broadband internet connections had been suspended when the government revoked the decades-long special status of Jammu and Kashmir, which had given the region autonomy. Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko shut off internet access in August 2020 in the hope of stifling dissent following the disputed presidential election.

president Alexander Lukashenko shut off internet access in August 2020 in the hope of stifling dissent following the disputed presidential election. North Korea is probably the most isolated country in the world. Its people cannot make or receive international phone calls, or access the global internet. Mobile phones operate on a closed domestic network, and North Koreans can only surf a highly restricted national intranet.

is probably the most isolated country in the world. Its people cannot make or receive international phone calls, or access the global internet. Mobile phones operate on a closed domestic network, and North Koreans can only surf a highly restricted national intranet. Xinjiang region in western China was largely isolated for 10 months in 2010. After riots, Beijing blocked internet access and barred international phone calls. Since then an unprecedented surveillance system has been put in place that allows authorities to monitor residents’ phone and internet use rather than blocking it entirely.

was largely isolated for 10 months in 2010. After riots, Beijing blocked internet access and barred international phone calls. Since then an unprecedented surveillance system has been put in place that allows authorities to monitor residents’ phone and internet use rather than blocking it entirely. China has blocked its internet off from the rest of the world wide web with digital barriers known colloquially as the ‘Great Firewall’. Companies that are a staple of digital life elsewhere, including Facebook, Google and Amazon, are blocked and unknown in China. However the controls can be dodged with a VPN, and phone connections to the rest of the world are open.

has blocked its internet off from the rest of the world wide web with digital barriers known colloquially as the ‘Great Firewall’. Companies that are a staple of digital life elsewhere, including Facebook, Google and Amazon, are blocked and unknown in China. However the controls can be dodged with a VPN, and phone connections to the rest of the world are open. Sudan had a month-long internet blackout during mass demonstrations this year. Other countries have shut down the internet or blocked major sites during times of political tension, including Zimbabwe during fuel price protests this year and Uganda for the swearing in of a president whose re-election sparked protests.

had a month-long internet blackout during mass demonstrations this year. Other countries have shut down the internet or blocked major sites during times of political tension, including during fuel price protests this year and for the swearing in of a president whose re-election sparked protests. Iraq, Algeria and Ethiopia are among several countries that have temporarily blocked the internet to prevent cheating in national high school exams. These blocks have usually only lasted a few hours. Emma Graham-Harrison

Prominent political leaders met to raise concerns over the possibility that Delhi might be preparing to remove Kashmir’s autonomy. Hours before the Indian home affairs minister, Amit Shah, addressed parliament, the leaders were placed under house arrest.

The Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) has repeatedly promised to end Kashmir’s special status, and, after the prime minister Narendra Modi’s landslide victory in the May elections, the party had control of the lower house of parliament, where it was predicted the proposals would be passed.

The scrapping of special status has long been a demand of the BJP’s Hindu nationalist support base. Analysts say Delhi may be attempting to assert itself regionally, as Pakistan gains favour with the US, which is seeking Islamabad’s cooperation in furthering a peace deal in Afghanistan.

Siraj said some were banking on Trump to intervene, or for a case to be brought to the international court of justice.

People believe things will get worse but they are not afraid, he said. “Things have changed. The next generation of Kashmiris, they are different, they don’t take anything lying down,” he said. “Their fear even of death has significantly lessened.”