J&K marks 100th day of communication blockade

A communications blockade imposed by the Indian government in disputed Jammu and Kashmir became 100 days old yesterday, the longest in the insurgency-ridden region. On the night of Aug. 4, hours before abrogating 76-year-old legislation granting autonomy to the Muslim-majority state, the Indian government blocked phones and the internet and deployed tens of thousands of soldiers "for maintaining law and order". A few thousand landline phones were declared operational in early September and postpaid mobile phone services were restored on Sept. 14. Text messaging was restored the same day but was withdrawn hours later. Broadband and mobile internet services remain suspended.