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Basit Banday*, employed with an IT firm based in the southwestern Indian city of Pune, handles sensitive healthcare data of his company’s clients, ensuring they are safe from leaks and cyberattacks.

Until late last year, the 27-year-old Kashmiri Indian was able to do that using a virtual private network (VPN), which allows a user to mask their internet protocol (IP) address by routing web traffic through a remote server in a manner that makes it undetectable to telephone data or internet service providers (ISPs).

But that changed on December 29 when the Indian government ordered a sweeping ban on the use of VPNs for two months in Indian-administered Kashmir, citing “threats to national security” and alleged “misuse” of the services to “incite unrest”.

The government claimed the use of VPN in Kashmir has the potential to be exploited for “unlawful and anti-national activities”, including dissemination of inflammatory material, misinformation, and other activities that threaten public order.

“It was further observed that VPNs enable encrypted data transmission, mask IP addresses, bypass firewalls and website restrictions, and may expose sensitive information to potential cyber threats,” said one of the almost identical orders, issued by the chief administrator in every Kashmir district.

Banday now fears he may lose his job or will be forced to relocate to Pune, more than 2,000km (1,242 miles) away from his home in Pulwama district.

“Unfortunately, the recent government order appears to have been issued without adequate consideration for professionals whose livelihoods and responsibilities are directly dependent on secure VPN connectivity,” he told Al Jazeera.

“VPN is extremely important and mandatory for any IT organisation. Even applications such as corporate email cannot be accessed without connecting to the VPN. It also restricts access to external platforms, allowing only authorised organisation systems and thereby limiting exposure to the outside world.”

Banday’s fears are compounded by a security crackdown that followed the government order.

Multiple videos shared on social media by Indian media outlets and individual users showed policemen in riot gear gesturing to pedestrians or those driving vehicles to stop, and asking for their mobile devices. If the devices were locked, people were instructed to unlock them as officers shuffled through them.

Police said they have taken action against more than 100 people across the region since December 29 for violating the ban orders, adding that “security proceedings” were initiated against the “violators”. Those who were initially “identified” for violations were let go only after their “antecedents” were verified to confirm they had no connections with a “terrorist”, the term the government uses for Kashmiri rebels.

“Genuine users were released after detailed device analysis with a strict warning to refrain from VPN usage in the future,” a statement issued by the police said on January 2.

An estimated 20 percent of India’s 800 million internet users use VPNs. Surfshark, a cybersecurity company based in Amsterdam, estimates that India has the world’s largest number of VPN users, with a market size worth $17bn.

Frequent disruptions

Internet restrictions in Indian-administered Kashmir are not new.

Of the 901 internet shutdowns the Indian government has periodically imposed across the country, Kashmir accounts for nearly 50 percent of them, according to a monitor which started recording the blackouts in 2012, though the intensity of such blackouts in the region has come down in the last few years.

When the Indian subcontinent won its independence from British rule in 1947, the Himalayan region of Kashmir was divided between India and Pakistan, though the nuclear-armed neighbours claim it in full and fought three wars over it. Regional superpower China also controls a sliver of Kashmir’s land.

In the late 1980s, an armed rebellion against New Delhi’s rule erupted to seek independence for Kashmir or merge it with Pakistan. In response, India deployed nearly a million Indian soldiers there and gave them extraordinary powers to control the region. The conflict has so far claimed tens of thousands of lives, most of them civilians.

India further tightened its grip over Kashmir in 2019 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s right-wing government scrapped Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, legislation that granted a special status to the region by not allowing outsiders to get government jobs or buy properties there. The government also divided the semiautonomous region into two territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh – and brought them under New Delhi’s direct rule.

Kashmir residents say the VPN ban is another addition to an ever-expanding list of restrictions on civic freedoms in the restive region.

A 32-year-old Kashmiri journalist told Al Jazeera he often relied on VPNs for work, but fears he will no longer be able to do so under the new restrictions.

“It is common for journalists in conflict zones to use VPNs for safety, especially when working on investigative stories,” said the journalist who requested anonymity over fears of reprisal from the authorities. “Now, that layer of protection is gone.”

Mir Umair, a 24-year-old businessman in Srinagar, said the VPN ban has cut his access to Bayyinah TV, an online platform of Quranic studies run by an Islamic preacher based in the United States.

“There’s nothing political in his speeches. Just religion. He has never talked about Kashmir except once when he narrated an episode of meeting a Kashmiri pilgrim during Hajj,” Umair said, adding that Khan’s channel was banned last year in May following the four-day India-Pakistan military clashes.

“I used to access his channel via VPNs,” he said.

Ahmad, a local lawyer who gave only his last name, fearing retribution from the authorities, told Al Jazeera the VPN ban could be unlawful.

“The legality of the order is doubtful as it is supposed to comply with India’s IT Rules that do not stipulate a blanket ban on VPNs,” he said. “One single executive order should not be able to sanction a ban as sweeping as this.”

Al Jazeera reached out to police and government authorities in Kashmir for their statements on the VPN ban, but they did not respond.

‘Unconstitutional policing mechanisms’

Last week, David Peterson, who heads the Geneva-based ProtonVPN company, invited a torrent of abuse from Indian users on X after he posted guidelines on tapping into his application’s “discreet icon” feature to evade the government ban.

“For additional context, Jammu and Kashmir [has] historically been subject to internet restrictions, bans and outages around this time of year to disrupt protests around the Republic Day [January 26] and the anniversaries of the Gawkadal and Handwara massacres,” he wrote, referring to the killings of civilians by Indian forces during the height of Kashmir’s armed rebellion in the early 1990s.

When an Indian X user accused him of facilitating “terrorism” in Kashmir, Peterson referred to the use of disguised apps by journalists working in dangerous environments. “[Like] in countries such as Iran, China, Russia, Myanmar, etc”, he replied.

In September last year, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) described Indian-administered Kashmir as an “information black hole” out of which reliable news rarely emerges.

Srinivas Kodali, a digital rights activist and researcher, told Al Jazeera merely having a VPN installed on phones does not amount to a criminal offence.

“People from diverse professions use VPNs for legitimate reasons. This blanket ban is uncalled for,” Kodali told Al Jazeera, adding that the act of stopping people and forcing them to unlock their phones was a “gross violation” of their fundamental rights.

“But in Kashmir’s case, we have continuously seen the state pushing all sorts of unconstitutional policing mechanisms. It is just one more step in that direction.”

Furqan*, another Kashmiri journalist, works remotely for an international media house based in the southern city of Bengaluru. He edits videos on major global events for his organisation and requires access to a bigger repository of online material than he can “legally” scour on the internet.

“India is one of the foremost countries to ban stuff on the internet. Just look at the rate at which the X handles are withheld in India, especially of critics and dissenters. To know who is writing what, a journalist will have to access VPNs,” he told Al Jazeera.

Furqan insists that, as a journalist, he has the right to be discreet about his work, especially when he is dealing with sensitive information.

“Now this ban will hang like a sword on our thoughts,” he says. “Sometimes I am supposed to access the dashboard of the company. And because I am working remotely, it has to happen through a secure medium. So I use VPN. But in the damned region such as ours, even this mundane thing will now be deemed as a criminal activity.”

Furqan says the VPN ban adds to the “psychological pressure” on the Kashmiris. “It feels like we are on trial for our thoughts,” he told Al Jazeera. “A Kashmiri is risking so much even when he does something as basic as accessing a VPN.”

Dozens of writers, four board members, and a sponsor have withdrawn from a top Australian arts festival after it cancelled an Australian-Palestinian author’s invitation in the wake of the Bondi Beach mass shooting.

The Adelaide Festival confirmed in a statement on Monday that the chairperson and three members of its board had resigned after it disinvited Randa Abdel-Fattah from February’s Writers Week.

The festival’s executive director, Julian Hobba, said the arts body was “navigating a complex and unprecedented moment” after the “significant community response” to the board’s decision.

In addition to the board members, about 100 of the 124 participants have also withdrawn from the festival, which runs from February 27 to March 15, leaving it in doubt, according to local media reports.

The Adelaide Festival board had announced on Thursday that it would disinvite Abdel-Fattah from its February event because “it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to programme her at this unprecedented time so soon after Bondi”.

The shooting, which killed 15 people at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on December 14, prompted nationwide calls to tackle anti-Semitism.

Abdel-Fattah, a Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship”. She said the board’s attempt to associate her with the Bondi killings was “despicable”.

Mass boycott

The writers who pulled out of the festival included former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who had been scheduled to discuss her memoir, as well as former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, British author Zadie Smith, Irish novelist Roisin O’Donnell and Russian-American journalist M Gessen.

Varoufakis posted a video on X showing him tearing up his invitation.

Australian-British author Kathy Lette, who is also boycotting the event, wrote on social media the decision to bar Abdel-Fattah “sends a divisive and plainly discriminatory message that platforming Australian Palestinians is ‘culturally insensitive’”.

Leading independent think tank Australia Institute also denounced the decision of the festival organisers as “pure, ugly politics”, and announced its withdrawal as a sponsor of the event.

“The moral spinelessness in not only seeking to silence Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah, but to link the cancellation to the abhorrent terrorist attack in Bondi, speaks volumes over who is allowed to have a voice in Australia,” said Amy Remeikis, chief political analyst of the Australia Institute.

The dropping of Abdel-Fattah stands in contrast to the organisers’ decision in 2024 to retain the pro-Israel New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, despite lobbying from a group of 10 academics, including Abdel-Fattah, who called for his removal over a controversial column that compared the conflict in Gaza with the animal kingdom.

Friedman ultimately did not attend because of last-minute scheduling issues, according to The Guardian Australia.

Abdel-Fattah told the news outlet on Sunday that she rejected any allegation of hypocrisy over her calls for Friedman’s removal.

“Friedman’s widely criticised NYT article compared various Arab and Muslim nations and groups to insects and vermin requiring eradication at a time when talk of ‘human animals’ was being used to justify wholesale slaughter in Gaza,” she said in a statement.

“In contrast, I was cancelled because my presence and identity as a Palestinian was deemed ‘culturally insensitive’ and linked to the Bondi atrocity,” she added.

Tougher laws

In the days after the Bondi Beach attack, Jewish community groups and the Israeli government have accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of failing to act on a rise in anti-Semitic attacks and criticised protest marches against Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, held since 2023.

Albanese, who denies the allegations, said last week a royal commission would consider the events of the shooting as well as anti-Semitism and social cohesion in Australia.

Rights groups say anti-Jewish sentiment, as well as anti-Islam and anti-immigration sentiment, are rising in Australia. Many Australians have also expressed their concerns over a rise in right-wing activism in the country, where one in two people is either born overseas or has a parent born overseas.

On Monday, Albanese announced that he would recall parliament next week to pass tougher hate speech laws and authorise a ‍gun buyback scheme.

He said Australians were entitled to express different views about the Middle East, but what they are not entitled to do “is to hold someone to account for the actions of others because they are a young boy wearing a school uniform going ‍to a Jewish ⁠school or a young woman wearing a hijab”.

Video shows Israel carrying out back-to-back strikes on the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Hatta after issuing an evacuation warning, saying it was targeting Hezbollah infrastructure. The UN says Israeli forces have committed over 10,000 air and ground violations of the ceasefire in Lebanon since November 2024.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has alleged that nationwide protests “turned violent and bloody to give an excuse” for United States President Donald Trump to intervene militarily in the country.

Araghchi told foreign diplomats in Tehran on Monday that the violence spiked over the weekend, but the “situation is now under total control”.

He said Trump’s warning of military action against Tehran should ‌protests turn ‌bloody motivated “terrorists” ⁠to target protesters and security forces ‌to invite foreign intervention. “We are ready for war but also for dialogue,” he added.

Araghchi also said Iran has footage of weapons being distributed to protesters, adding authorities will soon release confessions of detainees, and that authorities are “closely following” the ongoing events on the streets.

The demonstrations were “stoked and fuelled” by foreign elements, he said, noting security forces would “hunt down” those responsible.

Iran’s spiralling protests have now entered a third week amid a nationwide internet blackout and repeated military intervention threats from Trump.

Iran’s government has declared three days of national mourning for the “martyrs” killed during the protests, including members of security forces.

The semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday that 109 security personnel have been killed in the protests.

Authorities have not confirmed the number of demonstrators who have lost their lives, but opposition activists based outside the country say the death toll is higher and includes hundreds of protesters.

Al Jazeera cannot independently verify either figure.

Initially prompted by anger over the rising cost of living, the demonstrations have evolved into nationwide protests and a serious challenge to the government in place since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The Fars news agency reported that limited protest gatherings took place in several neighbourhoods of the capital on Sunday night.

There were limited “riots” in Navvab and Saadat Abad neighbourhoods of Tehran, Junqan and Hafshejan in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, and Taybad of Mashhad, which were intervened and dissolved by security forces, according to Fars.

The agency reported that the other cities and regions in the country were generally calm without “riots” overnight.

On Monday morning, Iranian media showed reported footage of pro-government rallies on its Telegram channels from various cities.

‘National internet blackout’

A nationwide internet blackout has entered its fourth day in the country, according to reports, a move widely criticised by human rights organisations.

Connectivity watchdog NetBlocks reported the internet across Iran is still down, describing the situation as a “national internet blackout”.

It has now been 84 hours since the country last had consistent connectivity. NetBlocks noted, however, some Iranians have developed methods to bypass the restrictions.

There have been fewer videos showing protests on social media recently due to the internet shutdown.

The United Kingdom-based Amnesty International slammed the practice on Friday as a way of hiding “violations in escalating deadly crackdown on protesters”.

Addressing the internet blackout, Araghchi said it would soon be restored, and added that the government was coordinating with the security establishment to make progress on that. He said the connection would be restored to embassies and government ministries, too.

Iran’s leadership wants to show the situation in the country is under control and that is why the internet will be turned back on, Mehran Kamrava, an Iran analyst at Georgetown University in Qatar, told Al Jazeera.

Araghchi “doesn’t want to lose face”, he added, “but what we’re seeing is a multi-pronged approach” by Iran to end the turmoil.

Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, said that the remarks by Araghchi “are the part of the same rhetoric that we have been hearing from different Iranian political figures”.

“Basically, there are three components we have to keep in mind when it comes to this particular discourse,” he said.

Asadi stressed that Iranian officials have been expressing that they recognise people’s “right to take part in peaceful protests” due to the economic difficulties they are facing.

He said the country is also witnessing an “unrest flaring up into violence” that has been going on since Thursday, resulting in fatalities, injuries, and arrests, and reminded the reported unconfirmed death toll of Iranian security officers.

Our correspondent said the third component that made the situation “even more complicated” was “rising security concerns related to foreign intervention”.

‘We’re looking at some very strong options’

As protests persist, defying a crackdown, Trump said on Sunday the US is considering “strong options” in response to the situation in Iran, including possible military intervention.

“We’re looking at it very seriously. The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options. We’ll make a determination,” he told reporters on board Air Force One, adding that Iran’s leadership had called “to negotiate” after his threats of military action, and that a “meeting is being set up”.

Earlier on Sunday, parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned the US against “a miscalculation”.

“Let us be clear, in the case of an attack on Iran, the occupied territories [Israel] as well as all US bases and ships will be our legitimate target,” said Qalibaf, a former commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Iran faced a 12-day war with Israel and the US last year after Israel attacked in June, when Washington also bombed the country’s nuclear sites.

The war killed hundreds of civilians, military commanders and scientists, and Tehran responded with hundreds of ballistic missiles targeting Israel, killing 28.

Meanwhile, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian addressed economic plans in an interview on Sunday.

Pezeshkian ⁠said ​‍the US and Israel ⁠want to “sow chaos and disorder” ​in his country by ordering “riots” and called ‌upon citizens ‌to ⁠distance themselves from “rioters and ‌terrorists”, according to the state media.

President Donald Trump said the US is considering “very strong options,” including possible military action, over the deaths of protesters during unrest in Iran. Nationwide protests over economic hardship have been met with mass arrests and a security crackdown.

For decades, Reza Pahlavi was the polite face of the Iranian opposition in exile – a former fighter pilot who spoke of nonviolent resistance and secular democracy from his home in the United States.

But this weekend, the tone of the 65-year-old heir to the Peacock Throne and son of Iran’s last shah changed dramatically.

In a direct challenge to the Iranian government, Pahlavi called on Iranians to “seize city centres” and prepare for his imminent return, prompting what Iranian state media described as “armed terrorist attacks” across the country.

“Our goal is no longer merely to come into the streets,” Pahlavi declared in a statement released on his X account. “The goal is to prepare to seize city centres and hold them.”

From heir to exile

Born in Tehran on October 31, 1960, Pahlavi was officially named crown prince at the age of seven. His path seemed destined for the throne until the 1979 revolution upended the region.

At 17, he left Iran for fighter pilot training in the US at Reese Air Force Base in Texas. While he was away, the monarchy collapsed, and the current political system was established, barring his return.

Pahlavi completed his training and later earned a degree in political science from the University of Southern California. During the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, he famously volunteered to serve as a fighter pilot for his country but was rejected by the authorities in Tehran.

He has lived in exile ever since, residing in the US with his wife, Yasmine Pahlavi, and their three daughters.

‘Preparing to return’

For more than 40 years, Pahlavi advocated for a referendum and nonviolent change. However, his rhetoric has sharpened significantly in recent days.

On Saturday, he urged workers in key sectors — transport, oil, and gas — to launch nationwide strikes to “cut off the financial lifelines” of the state. He specifically called on the “youth of the Immortal Guard” — the erstwhile imperial forces — and security forces to defect.

“I, too, am preparing to return to the homeland so that at the time of our national revolution’s victory, I can be beside you,” he stated.

His call to action comes amid reports of the largest antigovernment protests in years. Pahlavi asked supporters to hoist the pre-1979 “Lion and Sun” flag, a symbol of his father’s rule, and to occupy public spaces starting from 6pm local time (14:30 GMT).

‘Terrorist’ accusations

The response from Tehran has been furious. On Sunday, state-affiliated media outlets labelled the protests as a “new phase of insecurity” and an “internal armed war”.

A report by the conservative Vatan-e Emrooz newspaper, cited by the Tasnim news agency, described Pahlavi’s call as cover for “terrorist nuclei” to attack police and Basij forces.

“Do not be mistaken; this is not merely a riot … these were armed terrorist attacks,” the report stated, claiming that dozens of security personnel had been killed.

Officials have linked Pahlavi’s escalation to foreign interference, specifically accusing the US and Israel. They claimed the unrest is a “Plan B” by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following the conclusion of the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in May last year.

‘Opposition against the opposition’?

While Pahlavi has found renewed popularity on the streets, he faces sharp criticism from within the fractured Iranian opposition.

Alireza Nader, an Iran expert, argued in a recent article that Pahlavi’s political activities have become divisive. Critics accuse his circle of attacking other prominent dissidents, such as Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi, labelling them “leftists” or “terrorists”.

“Pahlavi has doubled down on his advisors despite others’ unease about them,” Nader wrote, questioning whether the prince has become “the opposition against the opposition”.

There are also concerns about manipulation. Nader noted that Pahlavi’s online support is partly driven by cyber-armies linked to the Iranian government, designed to sow discord, raising questions about “who is co-opting whom”.

Despite these internal rifts, Pahlavi remains the most visible figurehead for the current wave of unrest. With the Trump administration maintaining a hands-off approach — asserting it is “up to Iranians to choose their own leaders” — and the streets of Tehran burning, the exiled prince appears to be making his final gamble for the throne he lost 47 years ago.