New Delhi (TDI): Instagram has blocked accounts of several high-profile Pakistani celebrities in India including, Mahira Khan, Hania Aamir, Ali Zafar, and Sanam Saeed, amid the escalating diplomatic tensions between Pakistan and India.
Indian Instagram users who have searched the accounts of these celebrities are now shown the notice, “Accounts not available in India. This is because we complied with a legal request to restrict this content.”
Other Pakistani celebrities who have been affected due to these restrictions are Iqra Aziz, Bilal Abbas, Sajal Aly, and Imran Abbas. However, for now, the Instagram has not suspended the accounts of Fawad Khan and Wahaj Ali in India.
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On April 22, an attack was conducted in Pahalgam in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJ&K), killing at least 26 people. The recent restrictions faced by Pakistani celebrities on Instagram have resulted from a wave of digital crackdowns by India after the Pahalgam attack.
India unabashedly blamed Pakistan for backing up the militants involved in the attack, an allegation that Islamabad has strongly denied.
The recent Instagram account suspension is not the only digital restriction that has been imposed. Indian authorities have also suspended the YouTube accounts of 16 Pakistanis, stating that the accounts were spreading propaganda through “provocative” or “communally sensitive” content.
India has restricted the official YouTube channel of former Pakistani cricketer, Shoaib Akhtar, which has around 3.5 million subscribers on the similar allegations.
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The recent measures taken by the Modi government are part of a broader diplomatic retaliation, after the country suspended the Indus Waters Treaty unilaterally, cutting down the diplomatic staff at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, and cancelling the visas issued to several Pakistani nationals.
The country has also refused to issue visas to Pakistani players for the Men’s Asia Cup, which is to be held in Rajgir in the coming months.
After the Pahalgam attack, India linked Pakistan to the attack without providing any sufficient evidence and took a flurry of retaliatory measures which resulted in heightening the diplomatic tensions between the two countries.
However, Pakistan has not only denied the allegations but has announced that it would take part in a credible and transparent investigation conducted by a neutral international body.
Javaria Khalid is a writer and researcher, who specializes in Pakistan's Foreign Policy Analysis, transatlantic geopolitics, and Pakistan’s relations with the European countries and the EU. She can be reached at javariakhalid011@outlook.com
