Pahalgam: India roasts BBC, blocks 16 Pak YouTubers, on questionable content
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Strongly responding to their anti-India diatribe after last week’s heinous terrorist attack at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir, New Delhi on Monday officially blocked at least 16 YouTube channels of the neighboring country, including those of former cricketers Shoaib Akhtar and Basit Ali.
The government said these channels were disseminating “provocative and communally-sensitive content.”
The government also sent a formal letter to BBC over it terming terrorists merely as “militants” in its reportage on the Pahalgam massacre.
The Ministry of External Affairs, in a communication to Jackie Martin, BBC’s India Head, conveyed the country’s strong sentiments regarding their reporting on the terror attack at Pahalgam in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed.
“A formal letter has been sent to the BBC on terming terrorists as militants. The External Publicity Division of the MEA will be monitoring the reporting of the BBC,” an official said.
Former Pakistan cricketers Shoaib Akhtar and Basit Ali’s YouTube channels were blocked in India following “an order from the government related to national security or public order” in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attacks.”
While Akhtar and Ali’s channels were not part of the government-issued list, they were also seemingly affected by the order.
The other YouTube channels blocked included those of Dawn News, Irshad Bhatti, SAMAA TV, ARY NEWS, BOL NEWS, Raftar, The Pakistan Reference, Geo News, Samaa Sports, GNN, Uzair Cricket, Umar Cheema Exclusive, Asma Shirazi, Muneeb Farooq, SUNO News and Razi Naama.
“This content is currently unavailable in this country because of an order from the government related to national security or public order,” stated a YouTube message on logging into the channels.
“On the recommendations of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Government of India has banned Pakistani YouTube channels for disseminating provocative and communally sensitive content, false and misleading narratives and misinformation against India, its Army and security agencies in the backdrop of the tragic Pahalgam terror incident in Jammu and Kashmir,” the media repored quoting officials.
