"The Internet is like oxygen for our business and it has been taken away," says the owner of a company with clients worldwide.
The coffee makers have been cold, the computer screens are blank and the workstations are empty for two months in the Silicon Valley of Kashmir as the blocking of Indian communications in the problem region increasingly affects business.
The dozen software development companies in the industrial state of Rangreth, on the outskirts of Srinagar, bring tens of millions of dollars of crucial revenue to the region each year.
But the cutting of internet links and mobile phones on August 5, when the New Delhi government ended the semi-autonomous status of Kashmir, has paralyzed business.
Rangreth has become a ghost town, a symbol of suffering throughout the region.
The government said the repression, backed by the presence of hundreds of thousands of security forces, was necessary to avoid the problems of the militants.
Markets, banks, schools, clothing stores and the emerging high-tech industry have been closed. Many locals say the closure is in protest over government action. The authorities blame militant threats.
Rangreth's warehouse-style hallways, usually filled with young programmers with T-shirts, are empty.
“It is a devastating blow to the software business in Kashmir. Internet is like oxygen for our business and they have taken it away, ”said the owner of a company with customers worldwide. AFP on condition of anonymity.
No computers, no cars
The businessman said that the patience of customers was running out. "We are likely to lose them." Jahangir Rasool, executive director of the Internet provider STC, said he was detained by police for six days for keeping the lines open for a few hours to help another company in his building that has customers in the United States. state
Rasool said his firm and others have firewalls and protocols to block social networks or "political propaganda" on the internet. But he said that the Indian authorities would not listen.
“They sent police and intelligence agencies to inspect our systems. We told you that the IT sector will collapse (without internet). They said: & # 39; Leave it. We are not taking any risk, "said the director of another company with clients in the Middle East.
The authorities have unlocked most landlines. But apart from 6,000 mobiles used by police and government officials, most of Kashmir's 880,000 mobile connections and internet services remain suspended.
The state governor, Satya Pal Malik, said in August that the lines were primarily useful as a "weapon" for "terrorists and Pakistanis for mobilization and indoctrination."
Some IT companies have already laid off workers, many are preparing to move their business away from Kashmir.
Rasool at STC said his company had lost more than $ 2.8 million in business since August 5 and has laid off two-thirds of its 370 employees.
"We cannot function in a total blackout," said STC chief financial officer Abid Bhat, who compared the closure to being "blind."
High technology is not alone in its suffering.
In two months, dealers across the Kashmir Valley have not sold a single car or truck, said Aawan Ahmad Narwaroo, head of a Srinagar car dealership.
He estimated that some 5,000 vehicles and motorcycles were sold in the same two months of last year.
Official records show that no new vehicles have been registered with the authorities since August 5.
“It is a collapse of the Kashmir economy. It is not possible to calculate snow losses, ”said the vice president of the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nasir Hamid Khan. AFP.
“Nearly 1,200 trucks carrying Kashmir products used to drive daily on the main road. Today we hear that not even 100 do it, ”said Khan.
At least three of the top business leaders were among the thousands arrested after the August 5 repression. Executives are still detained.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior police officer said AFP The decision to reopen mobile and internet services would be taken by Indian Interior Minister Amit Shah.
“He (Shah) is asking for assurances that large-scale protests will not occur if services resume. And today there is no official safe enough to put his neck on the block, "said the police officer.
Header image: In this file photo taken on August 18, cattle roam a closed building with offices of the STC internet provider and other software companies in the Rangreth industrial estate in Srinagar. – AFP
Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/1509155/india-clampdown-hits-occupied-kashmirs-silicon-valley