NEW DELHI: Social media platform X on Thursday expressed disagreement with the Indian government’s order to block accounts and posts related to the ongoing farmers’ protests and called for extending freedom of expression to the affected posts.
According to a Kashmir Media Service report on Thursday, India’s Ministry of Electronics and IT had ordered social media platforms to temporarily block 177 accounts that were linked to farmers’ protests on request of the Ministry of Home Affairs, according to sources.
“The Indian government has issued executive orders requiring X to act on specific accounts and posts, subject to potential penalties including significant fines and imprisonment. In compliance with the orders, we will withhold these accounts and posts in India alone; however, we disagree with these actions and maintain that freedom of expression should extend to these posts,” X said in a post.
The social media platform said that a writ appeal challenging the Indian government’s blocking orders remains pending and called for making the order public to enhance transparency. “Due to legal restrictions, we are unable to publish the executive orders, but we believe that making them public is essential for transparency. This lack of disclosure can lead to a lack of accountability and arbitrary decision-making,” X said.
The social media firm has provided the impacted users with notice of the government actions in accordance with the company’s policies. Farmers from across the country have been protesting to press for their demands, including a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) for crops and farm debt waiver.
Meanwhile, farmer leaders on Wednesday put their march to the national capital on hold for two days after a protester was killed and about 12 police personnel were injured in clashes at one of protest sites on the Punjab-Haryana border.
Muzaffarabad: Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Chaudhry Anwar-ul-Haq has urged the United Nations to take measures for settlement of the long-pending Kashmir dispute for permanent peace in the region.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Anwar-ul-Haq in a statement issued in Muzaffarabad said that the world highest forum should take tangible measures to implement its resolutions on Kashmir so that the people of Jammu and Kashmir could decide their political future in a proper manner.
Reacting to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the AJK prime minister said India cannot mislead the world community through its baseless narratives. He also urged the United Nations to take effective notice of India’s expansionist designs in the region.
Referring to the disputed nature of the Kashmir dispute, the AJK Prime Minister said India cannot change the status of the disputed territory unilaterally. He said that India’s August 5th move was the worst example of fascism.
Terming the Kashmiris’ ongoing freedom struggle as a legitimate political movement, he said the world should appreciate the Kashmiris’ peaceful struggle for the right to self-determination. He said that it was incumbent upon the international human rights organizations to highlight the plight of the Kashmiris in a proper manner.
Lauding the Kashmiris’ struggle and sacrifices, the AJK Prime Minister said that the day was not far away when the people of Kashmir would achieve their cherished goal of freedom.
