Amnesty International India on Thursday urged the government of India to immediately restore high-speed 4G internet services in Jammu and Kashmir to help people in preparing against the spread of Coronavirus.
Executive director Amnest International (India) AvinashKumar, in a statement, said the COVID-19 situation was constantly evolving andto ensure its full communication to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, thegovernment of India must urgently lift internet restrictions in the region andensure real time preparedness of the people against the spread of the virus.
“The responses to Coronavirus can’t be based on human rightsviolations and a lack of transparency and censorship,” the statement said.
It said that despite four positive cases of Coronavirusbeing confirmed in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir – three in Jammuand one in Kashmir, the government has ordered the continued restrictions onfull internet services such as restricting speed to 2G in the region.
The Kashmir Valley reported the first COVID-19 case onWednesday. The infected person, a Woman from Srinagar had recently returnedfrom Saudi Arabia.
“Complete internet shutdowns have also been imposedintermittently in certain areas in the guise of security. There is growinganxiety around the pandemic and unwarranted restrictions on content and disseminationof information only stands to add to the panic,” the AI statement said.
“Complete shutdowns or restricting of internet speed oraccess makes it difficult for people to navigate their way through a difficulttime further undermining their trust in the authorities,” the statement said.
The government of India needs to adopt a “rights-respecting”approach to protect public health and restore the access to 4G speed internet,Kumar said.
Human rights approach must be at the centre of allprevention, preparedness, containment, and treatment efforts to protect publichealth and support the most vulnerable groups, he said.
Kumar said the right to health as guaranteed under theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights provides for the right to accesshealthcare.
The high speed mobile internet service remains suspended inKashmir since August 5 last year, when the Centre abrogated special status ofJammu and Kashmir and divided the erstwhile state into two Union Territories(UT).Thebroadband and fixed line internet service and 2G mobile internet service of allcellular companies was restored more than a month ago.