Featured stories about South-Asia
Stories about South-Asia
2 March 2020
Internet shutdowns in 2019: India continued to top list of worst offenders
In 2019, access to the internet was disrupted 121 times in India alone, says Access Now in a new report.
10 February 2020
What do we know about the ‘Great Firewall of India’?
After a six-month-long internet shutdown, access to only 301 white-listed websites has been granted in Jammu and Kashmir, whereas social media, VPNs and many other sites remain banned.
3 February 2020
Manzoor Pashteen, the young activist who challenged Pakistan's military over human rights abuses, is arrested
Manzoor Ahmad Pashteen, a young a human rights activist from South Waziristan, Pakistan, has been arrested for alleged conspiracy and sedition.
20 January 2020
Baul singer Shariat Sarkar arrested in Bangladesh for ‘insulting’ Islam
Baul singer Shariat Sarkar is accused of making comments which hurt the “religious sentiment” of Muslims. He says that there is no evidence forbidding music in Islam.
13 January 2020
Supreme Court of India declares internet ban in Jammu and Kashmir unconstitutional
The blockout, imposed since August 2019, has affected the lives of millions of people in Jammu and Kashmir, depriving them of the basic right to access the internet.
6 January 2020
‘A disturbing crackdown on press freedom’: Pakistan arbitrarily blocking Slate.com
This is the second time that the website has been blocked in Pakistan in 2019, and the third time since 2018.
30 October 2019
Pakistan shuts art installation depicting extrajudicial killings
"The closure is both an attack on free expression and an attempt to sweep under the rug a longstanding human rights problem."
16 October 2019
India partially lifts communications blackout in Kashmir, internet still down
According to a recent report, Kashmiris are resisting the clampdowns and shutdowns imposed by the Indian Central Government “through satyagraha or non-violent civil disobedience”.
10 October 2019
Bangladesh Regulator blocks engineering university web page containing reports of student abuse
The Telecommunication Regulatory Commission blocked an online page where over 175 complaints were anonymously made by current and former students of the top engineering university of the country.
6 September 2019
Netizen Report: Two years after fleeing military attacks in Myanmar, Rohingya refugees face mobile blackout in Bangladesh
Refugees lose mobile access in Bangladesh, a Hong Kong web forum weathers a DDoS attack, and Turkey expands internet regulations.
