Local Kashmiri apps help plug the hole left behind by SHAREit ban: Report

The 11-month internet lockdown made Kashmiris come up with alternatives

A majority of Kashmiris are left in a lurch after SHAREit, one of the 59 Chinese applications were banned last month, a LiveMint report said.

SHAREit, a file sharing application which does not need an internet connection, had been used prolifically by the people of Jammu and Kashmir, after a clampdown was imposed on internet following the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5.

Mir Moien (18), a medical student from Kupwara, said that the application was like a backbone for Kashmiris. “I know someone who had transferred 2,000 GB of data within the first two months since the 5 August lockdown. And after the coronavirus lockdown, we had also been using SHAREit to transfer shows, movies and anything to keep ourselves occupied; we can’t access entertainment like the rest of the world,” Moien told LiveMint.

Moien travelled to Delhi, where his brother was pursuing a PhD at Jamia Handard University. He downloaded lectures from YouTube and shared them with his peers after he went back.

The application was not only used by students to continue their education, but also by journalists to transfer documents or work-related content.

Journalists from Kashmir have been using the application before the 11-month long internet clampdown too.

Last year, Anees Zargar, a journalist, was working on a story about the minors who had been detained after Article 370 was revoked. Though he could speak to the family of a detained minor in Shopian, south Kashmir, it was impossible for the family to transfer the documents—school and medical certificates—that would prove the boy was under 18. “Since the unprecedented shutdown last August, I used it to take documents for stories of people who fell ill inside jails, juveniles. SHAREit was the only way to get access to them," Zargar said.

Quratulain Rehbar (26), another journalist, used the application to access research and background. “We work in times when internet and phones are the basic tools of journalism, and they don’t work—we need it for research, background and more especially when we are filing stories for publications outside Kashmir who don’t have context of the conflict zone we live in,” she added.

Despite these difficulties, Kashmiris have started developing local applications.

Tipu Sultan Wani, a web developer from Chadoora in Budgam district has already launched File Share Tool. Developed by his brother and himself, the new application has over 10,000 downloads on Google Play Store.

Finding ways around the internet shutdown, the new application uses Wi-fi technology called SoftAP that creates a personal network using the Wi-Fi radio built into every phone. To establish a connection between two phones, a QR is required.

Wani is also developing alternative applications of TikTok and has already launched a document scanner application to replace CamScanner.

“No one knows how to adapt and survive like us. I really wish the world recognised the talent we have here. With better access and more opportunities, our local apps could be world class,” he said.