Netizens In Kashmir Resort To Using VPNs To Bypass Internet Restrictions

Lounging on a settee inside a manicured park with a smattering of snow under their feet, a knot of young men in Srinagar’s Abiguzar, Bund area are busy in installing Virtual Private Network ( VPN) applications to enable them to access various social media platforms and websites blocked by the government.

After a hiatus of nearly six months, the authorities on January 24 decided to resume broadband and low speed cellular internet services across Kashmir. However, access was restricted to only whitelisted sites while all the social media platforms continued to be out of bounds.