India restores full internet access in Kashmir for 2 weeks

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Indian authorities on Wednesday temporarily revoked a ban on social media sites and restored full internet access in disputed Kashmir for two weeks, seven months after they stripped the restive region of its statehood and semi-autonomy and enforced a total communications blackout.

Internet access over mobile devices, however, will remain restricted to slow speed.

The restoration of the internet will remain in effect till March 17, a government order said. It gave no explanation of the time limit. A recent Supreme Court order had said the internet ban could not be indefinite.

The order issued by the region’s home secretary, Shaleen Kabra, said internet access over fixed lines will be restricted to registered customers.

A.K. Srivastava, an official at state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., the leading broadband service provider in Kashmir, said it has begun implementing the new government order.

When it imposed the internet ban in August, the government said it was necessary to head off anti-India protests and attacks by rebels who have fought for decades for Muslim-majority Kashmir's independence or unification with Pakistan, which administers the other part of Kashmir. Both countries claim the Himalayan region in its entirety.

Digital rights activists denounced the tight internet restrictions and said they represented a new level of government control over information allowing it to further restrict freedoms in Kashmir. They were also criticized by lawmakers in Europe and the U.S., who called on the government to end the curbs.

Authorities in January slightly eased the internet ban, allowing the Indian-controlled territory's more than 7 million people to access government-approved websites over slow-speed connections. They heralded the...