New Internationalist  India clamps down on Kashmir’s
online dissenters  In 2010 activists turned to the internet
after a government crushing of dissent in Kashmir. Photo:
Kashmir Global, reproduced under a CC license.  Eyes cast down,
hands in pockets, he speaks slowly with long pauses. I can
hardly see his face as the evening light begins to fade. He
tells me stories of his childhood in the Indian administered
Kashmir. Memories flood his mind.  A teen internet activist, he
remains anonymous in the ‘virtual’ world.  But the government is
after him so we meet in a city outside Kashmir - he can’t go
back there this year. He divulges his online activity in a
hushed voice, as if on guard.  It started two years ago. He says
he used the internet excessively in 2010. ‘I would sleep at
3.00am those days. Kashmir used to be seen through borrowed
prisms but because of the internet, people’s narratives came to
the fore and this has embarrassed the Indian state.’  At the
turn of the decade in this conflict-torn region, a