Kashmir startups navigate barbed-wire checkpoints, internet shutdowns

Entrepreneurs fill vacuum left by bigger players in violence-plagued Himalayan region

Indian security forces in Kashmir frequently stop motorists and frisk them, fearing they could be militants planning an attack. © AP

ADNAN BHAT, Contributing writer

March 13, 2022 15:53 JST

SRINAGAR, India -- Barbed-wire checkpoints, frisks by gun-toting Indian security forces and surprise internet shutdowns.

Funding is usually the biggest worry for startups, but Kashmir's young entrepreneurs are also navigating their Himalayan homeland's never-ending cycle of violence as they fill a void left by major app providers that have given the conflict zone a wide berth.