Islamabad, July 11, 2021 (PPI-OT):Call it a business strategy to appease 1.2 billion people Indian market or siding with the Modi regime, the Facebook continues to block or restrict user accounts and pages highlighting the unabated human rights abuses in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir Facebook had been under fire since long for acting against the social media pages of both native Kashmiris as well as foreigners for raising the Kashmir issue. The victims of Facebook restrictions share their stories on other social media platforms and question the company’s policy terming it a gag in freedom of expression.

The complaints of censorship surfaced following the killing of Kashmiri freedom fighter Burhan Wani by Indian forces in 2016 which had sparked wide ranging protests across the IIOJK as well as other countries. The cases of shutting down accounts and pages continued to be reported after an uprising in Kashmir Movement following the Indian unilateral actions of August 5, 2019 followed by lockdown and communication blackout in the valley.

“Facebook looks to be under the influence of a large number of Indian employees. The west’s freedom of expression is just a farce,” said a Facebook user Abdul Moiz. Not only are the common users, even the celebrities also among the victims of Facebook censorship, who censured their policy. The social media giant had twice blocked the account of Pakistani film and TV actor Hamza Abbasi as he posted in praise of Burhan Wani.

“Banned again for 3 days. Now FB will tell us who is and isn’t a terrorist,” tweeted Hamza. Recently, the matter was also taken up by the Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir with Chairman Shahryar Afridi directing the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority chairman to take cognizance of the ‘selective action’ by the Facebook management against Pakistani and Kashmiri social media activists and take appropriate action in this regard.

Abdul Basit, an Islamabad-based researcher also complained the repeated suspension of his Facebook account for highlighting the Kashmir cause. “Facebook supporting the Indian agenda. Social media platforms, under the pressure of the Indian government, started shutting down Kashmir-related pages and the accounts of Kashmiri activists. Why are social media platforms silencing Kashmiri voices by suspending the account of Kashmiri activists and organizations, social networks are siding with undemocratic force,” he tweeted.

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