India leads world in cutting internet access for 5th year in a row: report

“Authorities disrupted internet access at least 49 times in Kashmir due to political instability and violence,” a new report says

India imposed by far the highest number of internet shutdowns in the world in 2022, internet advocacy watchdog Access Now said on February 28, as the country topped the list for the fifth successive year.

Out of 187 internet shutdowns globally recorded by Access Now, 84 took place in India, including 49 in Kashmir, the New York-based digital rights advocacy group said in a report published on Tuesday.

"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," the watchdog report added.

Kashmir has long been a flashpoint between India and archrival Pakistan, which claim the region in full but rule only parts.

In August 2019, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi scrapped the autonomy of the Muslim-majority State of Jammu and Kashmir, splitting it into two federally administered territories.

ALSO READ | Supreme Court seeks reply on Internet shutdown plea

The government has since regularly imposed communications restrictions on the region on security grounds, which rights groups have condemned and described as measures to quash dissent.