Tony Huidrom, a Toronto-based medical professional, was visiting family in India’s eastern state of Manipur for a month, during which time he had no way of contacting his family in Toronto due to internet blackouts.
“Once I entered Manipur, I was in the dark for seven days,” he said. Now that he’s back in Canada, Huidrom says he has to muddle his way through to connect with his 90-year-old father, who’s still in India.
The sparsely populated state is reeling from ethnic violence that’s affected tens of thousands of people. Amid the ongoing violence, Manipur remains under a government-authorized internet shutdown that