The Indian authorities have blocked 20 Pakistani YouTube channels and two websites for raising awareness about the dire human rights situation in the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJK).
Issuing directives in this regard on Tuesday, India’s Ministry of Information blamed that the YouTube channels and websites were part of “a coordinated disinformation network operating from Pakistan.”
“The channels were used to post divisive content in a coordinated manner on topics like Kashmir, Indian Army, minority communities in India, Ram Mandir, General Bipin Rawat [late Chief of Defense Staff], etc.”, said the Ministry in a statement.
According to the statement, these channels were part of the so-called ‘Naya ‘Pakistan Group (NPG)’, which was operating from Pakistan.
“The YouTube videos posted by this network have over 550 million views with a combined subscriber base of at least 3.5 million,” it read.
Besides, the statement added, it was also ordered to block two websites, the ‘Kashmir Global’ and ‘Kashmir Watch’.
The Ministry said that it would present the blocking order before the Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC) within 48 hours and would get it ratified as per the IT Rules, 2021.
The blocked 20 YouTube channels, among others, are The Punch Line, International Web News, Khalsa TV, The Naked Truth, News 24, 48 news, Fictional, Historical Facts, Punjab Viral, Naya Pakistan Global, and Cover Story.
