India on Friday (May 2, 2025) blocked Instagram accounts of main present and former Pakistani cricketers together with Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Wasim Akram, intensifying its digital crackdown on influential personalities throughout the border in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror assault.
The listing of restricted accounts additionally consists of Test captain Shan Masood, pacers Hasan Ali and Naseem Shah, batter Imam-ul-Haq, all rounder Shadab Khan and former stars Shoaib Akhtar and Shahid Afridi.
Additionally, the account of Pakistan’s former Prime Minister and cricket captain Imran Khan can also be now inaccessible in India.
Users making an attempt to entry their Instagram web page from India are met with the message: “Account not available in India. This is because we complied with a legal request to restrict this content.”
“We received a legal request to restrict this content. We reviewed it against our policies and conducted a legal and human rights assessment. After the review, we restricted access to the content in the location where it goes against local law,” added the observe from Instagram.
However, the accounts of World Cup-winning captain Waqar Younis and former skipper Misbah-ul-Haq haven’t been withheld but.
Pakistan’s Olympic gold-winning javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem’s Instagram account was blocked on Wednesday.
These restrictions come in the wake of the April 22 terror assault close to the favored vacationer vacation spot of Pahalgam in south Kashmir, the place 26 individuals — principally vacationers — have been killed and a number of others injured in a focused capturing.
In the wake of the lethal assault, the Indian authorities has taken steps to dam entry to Pakistani social media accounts, citing nationwide safety considerations.
Earlier this week, a number of Pakistani YouTube channels have been additionally restricted in India for “disseminating provocative and communally sensitive content, false and misleading narratives and misinformation against India, its Army and security agencies”.
That ban impacted the likes of Shoaib Akhtar, Basit Ali, and Shahid Afridi.
Published – May 03, 2025 06:36 am IST
