India restores cell phone services in Kashmir after two months of blackout

People in India’s Kashmir region are now able to make phone calls after nearly 2 months of blackout after the authorities restored services. This information is contained in a news report that pointed out however that Internet services are still off. The restoration of the mobile services has brought life to India’s Kashmir region that has endured 70 days of being cut off from the rest of India and the rest of the world. The report mentions how people have been able to call their family in other parts of India and how businesses have been able to contact their clients, clearly depicting how communications are so essential for thriving personal and business relationships.

The shutdown in cellular phone service on 5 August 2019 “was part of an unprecedented crackdown tied to India’s decision to strip Kashmir of its autonomy and statehood”. According to the report, many international human rights groups have criticised India’s high-handedness on Kashmir, including a growing number of U.S lawmakers. However, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi maintains, that revoking Kashmir’s autonomy “represented a ‘new dawn’ for the Muslim-majority region, which has been home to an anti-India insurgency for three decades”.