The year after 5th August 2019 : Voices from J & K

It is now one year since the Modi Government altered the constitutional structure of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K). This was done by de-operationalizing Article 370, abrogating Article 35A, repealing the separate Constitution of Jammu & Kashmir, and converting the State into 2 Union Territories. While the legislative changes were passed in the Rajya Sabha on 5^th August, orders had been issued to the local Administration much earlier. 

On 4^th August itself, all communication networks - be it landlines, broadband, or mobile internet services, were shut down. While the proposed changes were being discussed in the Rajya Sabha, political leaders such as Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti were placed under house arrest. The entire region was also placed under a strict curfew and lockdown. While all other parts of India faced a lockdown only after Covid-19 hit us in mid-March, the people of Jammu and Kashmir have been embracing this situation since 5^th August.

Along with a prolonged lockdown and curfew, the blanket ban on communication networks also continued for many months after 5^th August. While landlines and basic mobile services (such as calling and SMS) were eventually restored in most parts of Jammu & Kashmir, internet services have not been fully restored even today. From January onwards, mobile internet has been available only on 2G speed, and even the Supreme Court has shied away from restoring access to 3G and 4G mobile networks.

Over the course of the last one year, the residents of Jammu & Kashmir have had to face multiple difficulties - due to the prolonged lockdown and the restrictions placed on communication networks. 

In this post, I would like to share with you the first-hand experience of two such residents – Jatin and Muazzam Nasir.

Jatin stays in Kathua District, Jammu. He has just finished his 12th Grade. He is a law aspirant, and had planned to give the CLAT entrance exam this year. However, as there was no access to 4G internet, it became impossible for him to enroll and attend coaching classes, and access study materials online. Jatin says that attending online classes and accessing study material is impossible at 2G internet speed. The absence of high-speed internet has effectively derailed his plans by a year.

Jatin also states that there cannot be any justification whatsoever for restricting internet access in the Jammu region. This is because unlike Kashmir, there are no security and militancy-related issues in Jammu. He tells me that the national media always makes the mistake of looking at the regions of Jammu and Kashmir through the same lens. In his view, this should be avoided, as both these regions have their own identity, and may have a different set of aspirations.

He also states that the people of Jammu are being denied access to 4G internet even though the mobile network operators (Vodafone, Airtel, Jio etc.) continue to charge them at 4G rates! He concludes by telling me – “When the rest of India is going for coaching classes to prepare for a competitive examination, how can I give a competitive exam without attending coaching classes? Why should I not get to attend coaching classes like everyone else?” 

In a nutshell, this is the denial of opportunity that students in Jammu & Kashmir face, as the J & K Administration continues to deprive them of access to 4G internet services. In the midst of a pandemic - when all forms of classes have moved online, what tangible option have the students of Jammu & Kashmir been left with?

Let me now share Muazzam Nasir’s experience with you. Muazzam, a resident of Srinagar, is an undergraduate law student at the Hidayatullah National Law University (HNLU), Raipur. 

He has a small message for us, which summarizes his experiences post 5th August –

"Post August 5th, 2019, Kashmir is a phrase that chronicles a series of emotions. I had freshly joined law school a week back and my fascination for the liberty of thoughts and ideas, along with the strong belief that human rights are the strongest pillar in a working democracy, drove me towards pursuing a career in law.  

I was taken aback by the sudden spate of restrictions that laced my home State with barbed wires. The mental agony was beyond punishing. Since all forms of communication were down; connecting back home suddenly became a luxury. An average conversation of three to five minutes with parents was routed through government designated call centres. 

An initial resentment to not let the state dictate conversations with my parents was overrun by the spurt of emotions to have a word with them. The rush in their tone was fermented by the long queue of other parents waiting to contact their loved ones. This emotion was further aggrandized by the constant thought that my parents were living under a siege. 

I struggled to find coherence between the fancy ideas of life and liberty under Article 21 that law school taught us and the diagonally opposite implementation of the same, as I witnessed the slow poisoning of these ideals in Kashmir. 

The past year has painted an image in our minds. It paints the thirty-years of conflict in a brush of one stroke. The paint is red, deep red. The painting is hollow, and has no sign of emotion but the deep red color, that will forever be centered in a maze of contortions". 

As Muazzam’s touching message tells us – the restrictions on communication networks and the prolonged curfew made it difficult to even keep in touch with family members. Just imagine the emotional trauma suffered by all those who were away from their families in August last year? 

After returning home in April, Muazzam had also assisted a Supreme Court lawyer on an ongoing litigation. Throughout the month of April, he had to access research tools such as Manupatra and SCC Online on 2G internet speed. This made it extremely difficult for him to research and download case laws, and he would have to try his luck by ‘refreshing’ the webpage multiple times. 

Thankfully, Muazzam managed to get hold of a broadband internet connection in the month of June, and has not faced a problem since then. At this juncture, it is important for us to remember that such broadband connections are not freely available throughout the region, and are also not as pocket-friendly as a 4G mobile connection. This makes access to 4G even more important for the residents. 

The strict curfew and the barbed wires that Muazzam mentions re-appeared in Srinagar over the last two days. As the ruling dispensation celebrated the ‘one-year anniversary’ of the de-operationalization of Article 370, barricades and barbed wires were placed at regular intervals, and all shops and markets had closed down. Is this the ‘new normal’ that was promised on the floor of Parliament a year back?

So, the next time we hear claims about how there has been ‘restoration of normalcy’ and 'development' in Jammu & Kashmir post August 5^th, the words of Jatin and Muazzam should give us a reality check.

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I am deeply grateful to Jatin and Muazzam for sharing a first-hand account of their experience, and for allowing me to document it here.

Jatin and Muazzam can be contacted on their respective Twitter handles - @dograjatin11 & @_muazzzam.