The prolonged internet service shutdown in Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir has reached 76 days, causing severe hardship to citizens, students, online business people and freelancers. Users say that the internet shutdown has affected online work and caused financial losses worth crores of rupees, but the government has not yet taken effective steps to permanently resolve the issue.
On the other hand, the ongoing protests and sit-ins in the region have also completed 72 days. Protest participants say that they are determined to continue the protest until their demands are met despite intense heat, rain, sun and cold.
Protest groups are claiming that about a hundred people have lost their lives in firing by forces during the protests, while thousands have been injured. Several of the injured are undergoing treatment in various private medical camps and centers.
The protesters further said that the injured are not being provided treatment facilities in government hospitals, due to which they are having to resort to private medical centers.
The participants of the sit-in have demanded that the government immediately restore internet service, conduct a transparent investigation into the incidents that took place during the protest, and provide the injured with treatment facilities in government hospitals without discrimination.
The government’s position and the figures of casualties and property damage mentioned above could not be independently verified at the time of preparation of this news.
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