India impose by far the highest number of Internet shutdowns in the world in 2022, Internet advocacy Access Now said, as the country top the list for the fifth successive year.
Out of 187 Internet shutdowns globally record by Access Now, 84 took place in India, including 49 in Indian- administer Kashmir, the New York-based digital rights advocacy group said in a report publish.
As per Access Now report :
“Authorities disrupted Internet access at least 49 times in Kashmir due to political instability and violence, including a string of 16 back-to-back orders for three-day-long curfew-style shutdowns in January and February 2022,”.
Kashmir has long a flashpoint between India and Pakistan, which claim the region in full but rule only parts.
In August 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi scrap the autonomy of the Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir, splitting it into two federally administer territories.
Government has since regularly impose communications restrictions on the region on security grounds, which rights groups have condem and describe as measures to quash dissent.
Militants have battle India’s rule in Kashmir for more than three decades.
The South Asian country blames Pakistan for stoking the revolt. Islamabad denies the claims.
Although India once again led the world in Internet shutdowns, 2022 mark as the first time since 2017 that there were fewer than 100 shutdowns in the country, Access Now said.
Ukraine was second on the list, with the Russian military cutting access to the Internet at least 22 times after Russia invade Ukraine on 24th February 2022.
As per Access Now report :
“During Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian military cut Internet access at least 22 times, engaging in cyberattacks and deliberately destroying telecommunications infrastructure,”.
Ukraine was follow on the list by Iran where authorities impose 18 Internet shutdowns in 2022 in response to demonstrations against the government.
Nationwide anti-government protests erupt in Iran last fall after the death of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini in police custody on 16th September 2022.
Mahsa Amini was arrest in Tehran by the morality police for flouting the hijab rules, which require women to entirely cover their hair and bodies.
She died while in custody.
