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Controlling cyber skies

Kashmir Times. Dated: 4/28/2017 9:47:49 PM

Gags on internet cannot bring calm, there is instead need to provide space for free speech to angered, alienated Kashmiris

The ban in Kashmir Valley on social networking sites, after the crackdown on the latest 3G and 4G internet connectivity, is both repressive and ridiculous. Neither is it in tandem with chief minister Mehbooba Mufti's claim of reaching out to youth, nor is it likely to make any difference to the volatile Kashmir situation, that stems from a conflict that predates the age of computers and cyber-skies. Besides, such gags that are violative of the fundamental rights to free speech and equality are unconstitutional. Not only is the government making an attempt to gag the entire population of Kashmir Valley in the name of maintaining law and order, it is also inspired by a flawed diagnosis of what fans the outrage in Kashmir. This is not for the first time that such curbs have been put on the people of the state, who have already been hit by SMS bans, mobile bans and internet bans in the past few years. Free speech has also been gagged by stalling all kinds of protest and criticism, whether on the streets or on social media. Young boys and girls have been picked up from their homes for airing their views on social media, ever since 2010, and some even detained for prolonged periods for crimes that government fails to specify. But every attempt to shrink the spaces for free speech and exchange of free ideas have ended up strengthened the street outrage, not curb it. If anything, the volatile situation is further likely to be fuelled in the absence of social media networking.
It is not known whether the move is entirely the brain child of PDP-BJP coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir or the Centre has pushed for it. It is in complete discordance with chief minister Mehbooba Mufti's rhetoric of reaching out to the youth and assuaging the wounds of the people and at the same time it mocks at prime minister Narendra Modi's promise of giving youth 'laptops instead of stones' . It is ironic that instead of better connectivity or the promised technology, the government has chosen to deprive them of even what they had. A generation habitual of technological benefits is more likely to end up as participants in physical protests than being intimidated into silence, if that technology is taken away. Besides, social networking media is not only a way of mobilising people towards protests, it is also a source of information, one that both circulates and dispels rumours and can be used both destructively and constructively. The government is wrong if it feels that it can deal with a law and order issue by putting extra unconstitutional curbs on people and further restricting their civil liberties. The law and order situation is a cause of a deeper malaise - an unaddressed political issue and the anger that stems from both the unresolved dispute as well as militarization and excessive brutality practiced through the barrel of the gun.
They key to the law and order issue, therefore lies in addressing that anger, deep rooted sense of alienation and increasing frustration. One way of addressing that anger is to listen to people's voices and allowing free spaces and liberty to speak out and protest freely and peacefully. Instead the government is treading a far more dangerous course by revealing scant regard for free speech and free ideas. Like George Orwell's famous novel 1984, free thinking itself is becoming a crime and individuals and groups targeted for 'thought crime'. Though freedom of expression is a double edged sword and cannot be used for reasons that are already included in clause 2 of Article 19, guaranteeing this freedom, these restrictions cannot be used unjustifiably invoked for scuttling political dissent, as a pure form of vengeance against people because they don't feel a part of the Indian mainstream or to oppress the people and strengthen the foundations of an authoritarian regime, not a democratic one. In every respect the banning of internet and the gagging of voices on social media is an unconstitutional move.