After 19-hour suspension over ‘India complaint’, FO spokesperson’s Twitter account restored

India claimed Dr Faisal’s account was being used for reporting IoK atrocities, ICJ hearing on Kulbhushan Jadhav

ISLAMABAD: The personal Twitter handle of Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Muhammad Faisal (@DrMFaisal) was restored on Wednesday after remaining suspended for almost 19 hours.

The account was suspended on an official complaint lodged by the Indian government over apprehensions that Dr Faisal was keeping social media users updated regarding Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) hearing on RAW agent Kulbhushan Jadhav.

Sources privy to the development told The Express Tribune that the micro-blogging website’s regional office in India had acted on an official complaint lodged on Tuesday.

They said the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had resorted to such dirty tricks after facing an apparent defeat in the Jadhav’s case at the top United Nations court.



Dr Faisal also uses @ForeignOfficePK Twitter handle to reach out to his followers on the social media platform.

The FO spokesperson’s Twitter account also came under attack two weeks ago while Indian hackers attempted a cyber attack on the official website of Ministry of Foreign Affairs earlier this week.

The account was suspended while the FO spokesperson was present in The Hague, where ICJ is conducting a four-day hearing, which begun on Monday, of the case of self-confessed Indian spy Commander Jadhav, who was convicted of espionage by a Pakistani military court and sentenced to death in April 2017.

During Tuesday’s proceedings, the Pakistani team ripped apart India’s contradictory claims in the case and accused the South Asian arch rival of using the top UN court for ‘political theatre’.



Tensions between the neighbours have soared since February 14 attack in which 44 Indian paramilitaries were killed in occupied Kashmir's Pulwama district.

The responsibility of the deadly attack was reportedly claimed by the banned Jaish-e-Muhammad. India, however, took no time in pointing a finger at Pakistan.

PM Modi said India would give a ‘strong reply’ to those behind the Kashmir attack as New Delhi withdrew the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) trade status given to Pakistan.

Islamabad has strongly rejected the Indian allegations because these were made within a short time from the attack and without carrying out any investigations.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, in a nationally televised address on Tuesday, demanded India to give “actionable evidence” and that Pakistan would retaliate if attacked.