Facebook blocks live streaming of PBC news bulletins over Kashmir coverage
Pakistan to use power of speech for Kashmir cause: PM Imran
Facebook has blocked live streaming of the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation's (PBC) news bulletins for highlighting Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir, Radio Pakistan reported on Monday.
However, temporary arrangements have been made to continue live streaming of Radio Pakistan's bulletins on YouTube, the report added.
In its report, Radio Pakistan has included screenshots of earlier warning messages received from the socialmedia giant, dating back to May, warning the public broadcaster of violating "community standards on dangerous individuals and organisations".
Specifically, these posts were from news stories about the death anniversary of Hizbul Mujahideen leader Burhan Wani in July and the curfew imposed after the death of Zakir Musa, also a Hizbul Mujahideen commander, in May. Addressing a news conference in Islamabad on Monday, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan stated that Pakistan has to move away from international [social media] platforms in order to become more self-reliant. Talking about Kashmir, she said: "As we have seen, every time we try to highlight human rights violations on social media platforms, such as Facebook, the accounts are suspended".
"We have raised against this before and our voices will do so again in the future and will have those accounts restored," she added.
In 2016, Facebook came under fire for censoring dozens of posts related to the death of Wani, reported The Guardian. Photos, videos and entire accounts of academics and journalists as well as entire pages of local newspapers were removed for posting about the occupied valley. The Indian government had imposed curbs on newspapers as well but residents of occupied Kashmir complained that censoring posts on Facebook made information blackouts worse.
Due to limited access to newspapers and TV channels, journalists and news organisations would keep readers informed by updates on social media, until the social media giant started censoring news articles and updates about occupied Kashmir. The Facebook account of Kashmiri journalist Huma Dar, who is based in the United States, was deleted soon after she posted pictures of Wani's funeral and was told that she had "violated community standards" when she wrote to the social media giant.
"The biggest irony is that I get death threats, I get people saying they'll come and rape me and my mother. None of those people, even when I complain to Facebook, have ever been censored," she told The Guardian.
More recently, Twitter faced criticism after rights activists voiced concerns over the removal of hundreds of tweets critical of the Indian government's policies in occupied Kashmir, reported Al Jazeera.
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Monday that Pakistan would become the 'voice of innocent Kashmiris' by raising the issue at every forum. "Pakistan will continue to extend political, diplomatic and moral support to Kashmiris," the prime minister said in a meeting with renowned Kashmiri activist Tony Ashai at the Prime Minister House in Islamabad.
The meeting discussed current situation in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir with security forces indulging in severe oppression and barbarity against innocent civilians.
Prime Minister Imran Khan called upon the international community to realise the anti-Muslim agenda of Indian premier Narendra Modi, terming it a "threat to regional peace."
"The RSS and Hindutva ideology is an attempt to erase the identity of millions of Muslims, residing in India," he said.
Tony Ashai thanked PM Imran for effectively raising the issue of Kashmir at international level including the United Nations. Ashai apprised the prime minister of his efforts to update the American Senators and Congress members about Kashmir's humanitarian crisis. An architect by profession, based in California and being a Kashmiri, Tony Ashai has been a strong advocate of Kashmiris' rights.