The Azad Kashmir High Court has ordered the government to restore internet service across the territory within 10 days, placing a firm deadline on a disruption that has continued on and off since June and left businesses, students, and freelancers without reliable connectivity for months. The directive was issued by Justice Shahid Bahar while hearing petitions filed jointly by the Azad Kashmir Bar Association and a local resident, both of whom had been seeking an end to the prolonged suspension of internet services in the region.
Under the court’s order, service must be restored across the territory within the given timeframe, with the judge carving out an exception only for areas where the security situation remains unstable. The shutdown originally dates back to June 5, when authorities suspended internet access after a banned organization announced plans for a long march and sit-in at Rawalakot. Connectivity remained down for roughly 48 days before a partial restoration took place, though that restoration was itself reversed on July 25 following a strike and clashes that broke out in Muzaffarabad, extending the disruption further into the summer months.
The government later moved to ease the restrictions on August 31, when Prime Minister Iftikhar Gilani used his first press appearance at the Muzaffarabad Press Club to announce that service would resume across the region. A notification issued that same day restored full internet access in four districts while granting partial access in four others. DSL connections subsequently came back online in Mirpur, Neelum, and Haveli shortly afterward, though Muzaffarabad itself has continued to operate without full internet service, leaving a gap in connectivity even as other parts of the territory saw improvements.
The months-long disruption has taken a measurable toll on the local economy and daily life across Azad Kashmir. Businesses and government offices struggled to function normally during the extended outages, students lost access to online educational resources needed for coursework, and traders who depend on digital payment systems reported financial losses tied directly to the lack of reliable connectivity. Freelancers and government employees also described ongoing difficulty completing basic work tasks without a stable internet connection, underscoring how deeply the disruption affected both formal government operations and informal digital economic activity across the region. With the court’s 10 day deadline now in place, attention will turn to whether the government can fully restore service, particularly in Muzaffarabad, within the timeframe set by the ruling.
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