India is taking its standoff with Pakistan over last week’s killings in Kashmir from diplomatic to digital battlefield, banning Pakistani prime minister’s official social media accounts. YouTube channels belonging to Pakistan army and 16 TV channels are also blocked.
Besides, social media accounts of some film stars and former and current Pakistani cricketers are also turned off for India’s 900 million internet users.
Sport, media and arts all seem to be in the crosshairs of Pakistani-Indian tensions. According to Times of India, Pakistani actor Fawad Khan’s latest Bollywood movie Abir Gulaal, which was set to be released in India on May 9, will not be screened.
New Delhi quickly blamed Pakistan for having links to the perpetrators of April 22 gun attack in Pahalgam area of Indian-administered Kashmir, triggering a war of rhetoric from both sides. Islamabad has denied the allegation, saying New Delhi has not come up with any proof to back its claims of a Pakistani link.
Indian media reports, citing All India Radio, say New Delhi’s restrictions, announced on April 28, are in reaction to what the Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting termed as “inflammatory and communally charged” Pakistani content that undermines trust in Indian army and security institutions.
The Indian Government believes that the banned Pakistani platforms produced misleading narratives that could incite unrest in the wake of the terrorist attack that killed 26 Indian tourists in Pahalgam area of Kashmir under New Delhi’s control.
India’s Ministry of Home Affairs that the banned channels pushed content that was “factually incorrect but posed a national security risk” to the country, reports said.
YouTube took Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s speech on an Indian complaint. The YouTube administration said Pakistan could appeal the removal of the Prime Minister’s speech from the platform. According to Daily Times, Pakistan called the digital ban “extreme and undemocratic.” The Foreign Office criticized it as an attack on a sovereign nation’s right to communication. A channel run by Pakistan Army’s media wing Inter Services Public Relations is also off the platform in India.
Pakistani cricketers whose social media accounts have been include Babar Azam, Mohammed Rizwan, Shaheen Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Shoaib Akhtar. As per reports, YouTube channels run by actors Fawad Khan, Mahira Khan, Ali Zafar, Sajal Ali, Saba Qamar, Hania Aamir, have also been made inaccessible.
Critics of the moves say Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s clampdown on free speech does not align with India’s status as a democratic country and that such measures shrink space for direct people-to-people conversation. Some Pakistani analysts even suggest that such moves amount to a confession that New Delhi is nervous about losing the narrative contest.
A discussion on Pakistani Dawn TV channel’s program The Digipod featuring media expert Asma Shirazi looked at possible implications of Indian and Pakistani restrictions on dissent including the “rise of digital authoritarianism, state narratives, and the shrinking space for people-to-people contact” in South Asia.
Such discussions are drawing an interesting feedback from viewers with Indian commentators saying the moves would deprive Pakistani channels of the finances they earned from the large Indian viewership.
Pakistan TV dramas and singers have a huge following base in India with tens of millions of viewers watching serials on YouTube. Similarly, Pakistani cricketers are popular with Indian sport lovers.
Meanwhile, Indian media reports say as per Pakistan Broadcasters Association’s directives Pakistani radio stations stopped playing Indian on May 1, with Information Minister Attaullah Tarar appreciating the PBA’s own initiative as demonstrating a strong sense of national solidarity.
The United States has called upon both Islamabad and New Delhi to have engagement toward a “responsible solution” to the latest flare-up over Kashmir, a strategically located and resource-rich Himalayan region, claimed by both countries.
