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\nIslamabad: As the World Science Day for Peace and Development is observed internationally, the Indian BJP government continues to use technology to surveil political dissenters, opposition leaders and human rights activists in brazen infringement of privacy rights.<\/p>\n
A report issued by Kashmir Media Service, today, said to muzzle dissenting voices, curtail rights of people and exert more control over online content as part of an escalating crackdown on freedom of expression, the Hindutva Bharatiya Janata Party government of India has made laws enabling the authorities to establish new internet rules targeting social media platforms, digital news services, and video streaming sites.<\/p>\n
In August, 2023, New Delhi passed a law leading to increased surveillance by the authorities. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA), 2023, gives the Indian authorities power to seek information from firms and issue directions to block content on the advice of a data protection board appointed by the government.<\/p>\n
The rights groups and opposition lawmakers have criticized the DPDPA.<\/p>\n
It is noteworthy that India shuts down the internet more than any other country in the world, increasingly to silence peaceful protests and criticism of the government. It is thus known as the internet shutdown capital of the world. For five successive years beginning from 2018, India has topped the global list of states that cut off the internet to their citizens.<\/p>\n
As per the US digital rights advocacy group Access Now, between 2015 and 2022, Indian authorities blocked at least 55,607 websites, social media posts, and accounts, it added.<\/p>\n
In 2025, India blocked the official X (formerly Twitter) account of the Government of Pakistan, as well as the Instagram accounts of several Pakistani celebrities, actors, and artists including Mahira Khan, Hania Aamir, Ali Zafar, and Fawad Khan.<\/p>\n
The X accounts of several news outlets and journalists, including two handles of the Reuters news agency (which were later restored), were ordered to be blocked by the Indian government. Other affected accounts included Maktoob Media, The Kashmiriyat, and Free Press Kashmir.<\/p>\n
The Indian BJP government has issued orders to block social media accounts and URLs criticizing BJP government anti people policies, atrocities and Indian state terrorism in IIOJK ” content. In 2024 alone, over 8,821 accounts were blocked across platforms like X, Facebook, and Instagram for various reasons.<\/p>\n
During the 2024 farmer protests, around 177 social media accounts and weblinks related to the movement were blocked.<\/p>\n
The BJP government has blocked several websites, Pakistani newspapers and news channels, including Kashmir Media Service, PTV, Dawn News, GEO TV, Summer TV, and Bowl News, have been blocked in India. Numerous Pakistani YouTube channels were also blocked for Kashmiris right to self determination demand content.<\/p>\n
The websites and social media accounts of certain independent research projects and news portals, such as Hindutva Watch, Bolta Hindustan, and National Dastak, have also been blocked by the BJP government.<\/p>\n
The government justifies these bans as necessary measures to prevent the spread of misinformation, hate speech, and content that poses a threat to public order and national security. However, human rights groups and social media platforms like X have expressed deep concern over the orders, citing issues of press censorship and freedom of expression.<\/p>\n
Regarding the internet shutdowns in IIOJK, Anuradha Bhasin, the editor of the daily Kashmir Times, in a media interview, said this is the new normal in the territory. “We saw what happened when the government scrapped Kashmir’s special status in 2019: The region saw the longest internet blackout imposed, with it lasting several months. It no longer makes news and people have been forced to get used to this situation.”<\/p>\n
Post August 2019, besides facing unprecedented repression, the people in IIOJK have been subjected to multiple layers of surveillance. The Kashmiri people are subjected to occupying authorities\u2019 digital monitoring on a daily basis at checkpoints, workplaces and on social media. Indian forces\u2019 personnel regularly confiscate Kashmiris\u2019 cell phones to scrutinize their activities. Recently, the occupation regime equipped its police with GPS tracker anklets to monitor daily activities of the Kashmiri people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Islamabad: As the World Science Day for Peace and Development is observed internationally, the Indian BJP government continues to use technology to surveil political dissenters, opposition leaders and human rights activists in brazen infringement of privacy rights. A report issued by Kashmir Media Service, today, said to muzzle dissenting voices, curtail rights of people and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":187654,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-187652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-india"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t