In Kashmir (India) citizens suffered the high-handedness of the government with the longest imposed Internet shutdown of 213 days, just before entering into Covid-19 time.  Mir Basit Hussain, a journalist and the initiator of the first digital news platform in the valley - Free Press Kashmir - tells us about this period of being digitally left “in the dark”. What were Kashmireans doing to get information across, in and out of the Kashmir state? The shutdown undermined the citizens’ capacity to organise, curbed their freedom to a voice and access to information. In this episode we explore what was behind the Internet shutdown and the socio-economic and personal impact on its citizens.

For more information on the community networks mentioned in this episode, watch this short and insightful video: https://youtu.be/DKXStnMTnW4

Our expert speakers featured in this episode are:
 Mir Basit Hussain - Journalist at Free Press Kashmir
  Osama Manzar - MILEN member and founder of the Digital Empowerment Foundation
  Felicia Anthonio - Access Now Campaigner for the #KeepItOn Campaign

This episode was created by:
Host and editor: Alexandre Amaral
Producer: Ena Omerović
Co-producer: Osama Manzar
Consultant: Nicolas Martin
Consultant (partner Deutsche Welle Akademie): Hanna Hempel

This is a Podcast made by the Media and Information Literacy Expert Network (MILEN) with the support of Deutsche Welle Akademie (DW Akademie).

Contact us with questions, comments or your Stories on digital rights' violations at:

[email protected]