SRINAGAR: The coffee machines have been cold, computer screens blank and work stations empty for two months in Kashmir's Silicon Valley as an Indian communications blockade on the troubled region takes a growing toll on business.
Markets, banks, schools, clothes stores and the fledgling hi-tech industry have all been closed. Many locals say the shutdown is in protest at the government action. Authorities blame militant threats. Rasool said his firm and others have the firewalls and protocols to block social media or"political propaganda" on the internet. But he said Indian authorities would not listen.
Authorities have unblocked most landlines. But apart from 6,000 mobiles used by police and government officials, most of Kashmir's 880,000 mobile connections and internet services remain suspended. Rasool at STC said his company had lost more than US$2.8 million in business since Aug 5 and has laid off two thirds of its 370 employees.
"It's a collapse of Kashmir's economy. It's not possible to calculate the snowballing losses," Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry vice president Nasir Hamid Khan told AFP.
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