Pakistan has expressed concerns after India blocked the Twitter accounts of Pakistani embassies in a number of locations.
The Foreign Office has tweeted that there were deep concerns over India’s blocking of the flow of information to Indian Twitter by withdrawing the access to official accounts of Pakistani Missions in Iran, Turkey, United Nations and Egypt.
According to a report in Indian media, Pakistan Radio’s official Twitter handle has also been blocked upon the directive of Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Earlier, 16 YouTube channels, including six Pakistani channels, were also blocked by the neighbor country.
Twitter has already blocked the accounts of certain Indian and international journalists on basis of criticism on the Modi government.
Condemning the Twitter restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated that India’s shrinking space for plurality of voices and access to information was “extremely alarming”. It also said that social media platforms must follow the applicable international platforms.
In a subsequent tweet, the FO urged Twitter to restore access to the Pakistan missions’ accounts as soon as possible and to uphold democratic freedom of speech and expression.
CJP Asia has also condemned the actions of India blocking accounts. In a statement it has said that the unacceptable trend of censorship should be stopped because the voice of journalists was essential in democracy.
