Freedom of speech: As long as it's government approved

Fayaz Ahmad's Faim Internet Cafe in the Sopore township of Indian Kashmir was booming until a year ago, when police entered his premises without warning and seized all his computers. 

Fayaz himself was taken into custody after being told that someone had sent a "suspicious" email from his cafe. 

Fayaz told IPS it is "impossible" for a cafe owner to control the actions of his customers. 

"All I could do was note down the names and addresses of my visitors, maintain a record of their identity cards and list the  times" of their arrival and departure from the cafe, said Fayaz. 

In the towns of Srinagar - the economic capital of Indian Kashmir - Anantnag and Baramulla, many young boys have been picked up from their homes for expressing their personal views on Facebook and Twitter. Popular sites like YouTube have been blocked. Text messaging services have been jammed. 
Yet when Indian Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde visited Lal Chowk, a city square in Srinagar that has served as a meeting point for rights activists since the 1980s, he failed to mention the attack on freedom of expression in the Valley. 
"With 500 security personnel present in and around Lal Chowk, and mobile phones jammed, the minister claimed that everything was fine in Kashmir," Khurrum Parvez, a human-rights activist and convener of the Coalition of Civil Society (CCS), told IPS in reference to the two-day official visit last week. 
The Indian minister's silence did not come as a shock to many civil society activists here, who have long expressed concerns about the government's consistent efforts to curb freedom of speech and the right to access social media and online communications. 
"Every time a high profile official visits Kashmir, and every time Kashmiris try to express their political aspirations or protest about the violation of their rights, web sites like Facebook and YouTube are blocked while the mobile phones are jammed for days on end," Hameeda Nayeem, a social activist with a long involvement in Kashmir's human rights movement, told IPS.

One the government of India really needs is its own Ministry of Truth thus preventing any
Thought Crime that may occur.


The Clash Know Your Rights


This is a public service announcement 
With guitar 
Know your rights all 3 of them 
I say 
Number 1: You have the right not to be killed 
Murder is a CRIME! 
Unless it was done by a 
Policeman or aristocrat 
Number 2: You have the right to food money 
Providing of course you 
Don't mind a little 
Humiliation, investigation 
And if you cross your fingers 
Rehabilitation 
Wang! Young offenders! Know your rights 
Number 3: You have the right to freeeee 
Speech as long as you're not 
Dumb enough to actually try it. 
Know your rights 
These are your rights 
All 3 of 'em 
It has been suggested 
In some quarters that this is not enough! 
Well.............................. 
Get off the streets 
Get off the streets 
Run 
You don't have a home to go to 
Smush 
Finally then I will readd you your rights 
You have the right to remain silent 
You are warned that anything you say 
Can and will be taken down 
And used as evidence against you 
Listen to this 
Run