Scores of Kashmiris living outside Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir are reeling under fear, anger and skepticism as they are struggling to get any news from their families in wake of a com-munication blockade enforced by the authorities after the death of veteran Hurriyat leader, Syed Ali Gilani, on Wednesday.
Ibrahim Sultan, a Kashmiri working in Indian Punjab told media that this was inhuman on the part of the authorities to put restrictions on communica-tion.
“My grandfather is on his deathbed and unfor-tunately, I’ve no idea whether he’s alive or dead,” he said.
He further said, “This communication blackout in Kashmir has caused an uncertainty that aggra-vates not just my anxiety but every Kashmiris pres-ently living outside.”
Another Kashmiri, Ifrah Gulzar from Srinagar, whose brother works in a Pune-based IT company, expressed the same kind of concern for her brother.
As per Ifrah, she last spoke to her brother on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday, be-fore the mobile networks were snapped in the val-ley.
“As uncertainty prevails over the communica-tion blockade, I’m fretful about my brother’s safety with whom I’ve had no communication for the past 2 days now,” she said and added: “I’m unsure of when my family will be able to speak to my brother.”
A young Kashmiri, Asrar Imtiyaz, presently put-ting up in New Delhi, said that Thursday morning was quite dreadful as an unexpected blackout in IIOJK was spiraling into uncertainty.
“Imagine, waking up in the morning, trying to connect to your family and unexpectedly, one gets to know that communications in Kashmir have been snapped,” he said, “If everything’s normal in Kash-mir, then why does mobile communication become the first casualty of an administrative crack-down?”—KMS
