Altaf Hamid Rao
MIRPUR ( AJK): Dec. 29;”In internationally acknowledged disputed Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir, the prevailing digital silence is not accidental, rather It is engineered”, said Istanbul-based veteran Kashmiri leader from IIOJK Dr. Mubeen Shah.
He emphasized that the international community must decide whether it will accept a future in which entire populations can be digitally erased from their own political conversation—simply because they live in a the Indian illegally occupied disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
In a statement reaching and released to the media here on Monday, Dr Shah revealed that in recent months, several social media accounts belonging to Kashmiri advocates, writers, and advocacy platforms have become inaccessible inside Indian Illegally occupied Kashmir valley particularly —while remaining fully visible and functional elsewhere in the world. “To users outside the territory, these accounts appear normal. To users within Kashmir, they effectively do not exist”, he pointed out.
“This is not a technical error”, Dr Shah said adding
“it is territory-specific digital censorship in the occupied state “.
Kashmir Is a Disputed Territory — Not an Internal Matter: Dr. Mubeen Shah stated that Jammu & Kashmir is an internationally recognised disputed territory. Its final status remains unresolved under United Nations Security Council resolutions, and its people retain the right to self-determination under international law.
Lambasting New Delhi, the exiled Kashmiri leader, formerly President Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry and founding President of Jammu Kashmir Joint Chamber of Commerce & Industry, categorically said “yet India increasingly seeks to project Kashmir as an “internal administrative issue.” Digital censorship plays a central role in enforcing this false normalisation. By selectively restricting access to political content only within the territory, Kashmiris are confined to a tightly controlled information environment dominated by state-approved narratives in the Indian Illegally occupied Jammu Kashmir state, he underlined.
Describing digital Control as an Occupation Strategy by the Indian occupational forces in the occupied state, Dr. Mubeen Shah observed as saying “this is not governance – rather It is information domination”.
Dr. Mubeen Shah continued that control of information has always been a hallmark of Indian military occupation of the disputed Himalayanterritory.
The exiled Kashmiri leader further observed that in the Indian Illegally occupied Jammu Kashmir Kashmir, digital repression now operates through:
Internet shutdowns and throttling,
Surveillance of phones and online communication,
Criminalisation of online speech, Restrictions on encryption and VPN usage and Platform-level geo-blocking of political conten, he added.
Concluding his detailed remarks avout the overall fast deteriorating situation in the Indian Illegally occupied Jammu Kashmir state, Dr. Mubeen Shah said ” Together, these measures create a climate where political expression is risky, visibility is conditional, and silence becomes a survival strategy”
Referring to the Role of Global Technology Platforms, he said when content is accessible everywhere except within a disputed territory, serious questions arise.
He questioned that who requested these restrictions?, Under what legal authority? and why are users not informed?
When global technology platforms comply with opaque, territory-specific censorship demands, they risk becoming silent enforcers of political repression—particularly in disputed territories where populations are entitled to international protection.
He stated that this is not only about Kashmir. “If a state can digitally isolate a disputed territory—cutting off political speech, advocacy, and external engagement—without transparency or accountability, it establishes a dangerous precedent for digital authoritarianism worldwide.
He pointed out that international law does not permit occupying powers to silence protected populations. The digital domain is not exempt from this principle.
Declaring silence, not a peace, Dr. Shah said “claims of “normalcy” do not require silencing voices, blocking access to political content, or surveilling everyday communication. Peace does not fear speech.
The Kashmiri leader in exile declared that Kashmir is not silent, Rather Kashmir is being silenced by force.
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