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India has blocked the social media accounts of several prominent Pakistani politicians and celebrities in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack.
Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan and PPP leader Bilawal Bhutto. (PTI File Image)
Following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, India has escalated its information offensive against Pakistan, with social media accounts of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari among the latest to be blocked in the country.
The official X handles of Bilawal Bhutto’s party and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s party, were also blocked. This came a day after Pakistan Information and Broadcasting Minister Attaullah Tarar‘s X account was blocked in India, days after he had claimed that India was planning to carry out a military strike, citing “credible intelligence”.
As tensions between India and Pakistan continue to escalate over the heinous terror attack in Pahalgam where 26 tourists were killed, India has blocked the social media accounts of prominent Pakistani politicians, media personalities and celebrities, including actor Fawad Khan and singers Atif Aslam and Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan.
Like others, a screenshot of Imran Khan and Bilawal Bhutto‘s X accounts showed a message saying that it was withheld in response to a legal demand.
Over a week after the Pahalgam attack, Imran Khan had called the incident “deeply disturbing and tragic” while emphasising that India needs to act responsibly. “Loss of human life in Pahalgam incident is deeply disturbing and tragic. I extend my deepest condolences to the victims and their families,” he said on his X account.
He said India, being a country of 1.5 billion people, needs to act responsibly instead of messing with a region already known as “nuclear flashpoint”. The former PM said peace was Pakistan’s priority and it has all the capabilities to give a befitting response to any Indian misadventure, while appealing for unity.
He also criticised the current Pakistani government for its excessive focus on political victimisation. “It is naive to expect any strong stance from self-serving figures like Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari. They will never speak out against India because their illegal wealth and business interests lie abroad,” he said.
Bilawal Bhutto’s ‘Blood Will Flow’ Remark
Following the Pahalgam attack, India initiated a series of diplomatic offensives against Pakistan, including the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty. Reacting sharply, Bilawal Bhutto said Pakistan was the true custodian of the Indus civilisation and warned India that “either their water will flow in the Sindh or else Indians’ blood will flow through it”.
“The Indus is ours and will remain ours. Either our water will flow through it, or their blood will,” the PPP chief had said at a rally. Bhutto later said he was conveying how Pakistanis were feeling after India’s suspension.
The remarks escalated tensions between the two nations as several Indian politicians, including AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi, lashed out at the Pakistani politician.
On April 22, terrorists gunned down 26 tourists visiting the Baisaran valley in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, triggering global condemnation and increasing India-Pakistan tensions. The Resistance Front, or TRF, a Lashkar-e-Taiba offshoot with a bloody history, is believed to be behind the attack. Pakistan has denied responsibility for the attack.
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