India gaging Kashmiris on social media

Afridi claims Indians working at Twitter, Facebook use influence to silence Kashmiri voice

ISLAMABAD:

Expressing profound concern over the muzzling of Kashmiri voices on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir Shehryar Afridi on Thursday said that these tech giants were abusing the freedom of expression of people living under the brutal Indian military occupation in the disputed Himalayan territory.

In a meeting with Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman Major General (retired) Amir Bajwa in the Parliament House on Thursday, Afridi said that Kashmiris are fighting for a UN guaranteed right to self-determination. Moreover, he said that gagging their voices was a violation of UN conventions on freedom of speech.

“At a time when the world talks about freedom of expression and freedom of speech, it is unfortunate that the voices of Kashmiris are stifled in the name of so-called ‘community standards’,” said the parliamentary committee chairman, who is also the state minister for states and frontier regions (SAFRON) and narcotics.

Afridi claimed that it is not just Indian lobbyists, but also people from that country who work at Twitter and Facebook, influence the social media giants policies and help stifle the voices of Kashmiri activists.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 24^th, 2020.