Global News

SRINAGAR – The Indian Army in occupied-Kashmir has been checking the mobile phones of people there for Virtual Private Networks (VPN) and thrashing them if they find one using it.*

VPN allow users to mask their location and browse the internet more securely. Since the Indian government imposed a curfew in the valley and allowed access to only 329 whitelisted websites, there has been a surge in interest in the VPN applications as people turned to the applications to get around the restrictions.

However, the Indian army keeps a stern check on the phones, especially on the youth’s. This has led to the youth to keep their phones ‘clean’, *scroll.in link* reported. A teenager from Kashmir’s Kulgam district has said he does not carry his smartphone when he goes out and instead carries a simpler one. “It’s just to avoid the attention of the army.

They stop people and check their phones. I heard many were beaten up by the army when they found VPN apps installed in their phones,” the seventeen-year-old said.