India cracks down on Internet over migrant exodus
Tens of thousands of workers and students from the remote northeast region returned home last week fearing attacks from Muslims in reprisal for recent ethnic clashes in the state of Assam.
The Indian government has said many of the Internet posts, fake video clips and phone messages spreading rumours of plans to target migrants were sent from arch-rival Pakistan.
A statement from the Ministry of Communications late Monday said an order had been issued on August 17 but that "such inflammatory and harmful content continued to appear on the social networking sites."
It added the government was meeting with representatives of the sites to curb the content, but stressed that "a lot more and quicker action is expected from them to address such a sensitive issue".
Officials declined to name which sites were affected, and Twitter, Google and Facebook were not immediately available for comment.
The government also said 245 web pages had been blocked, but declined to give further details.
Asked on Tuesday whether the sites were being used to whip up ethnic tension, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde told reporters: "We have got sufficient evidence. The whole process is in investigation mode."
Local media reports estimated that over 35,000 people fled cities including Bangalore and Mumbai over the last week, packing special trains arranged to carry panicked students and workers back to the northeast.
Weeks of clashes in Assam between members of the Bodo tribal community and Muslims have claimed at least 80 lives and displaced more than 400,000 people.
The government says it is willing to share proof that much of the inflammatory Internet activity originated from Muslim-majority Pakistan.
Bulk text messages have been temporarily banned in India to halt the spread of threats and rumours.
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@ayesha_khan: .....minority in Pakistan would DARE to attack majority? What would be the scale of the backlash? I am not even talking about Hindus/Christians attacking Muslims. Do you think even Shias would dare to attack Sunnis.....
Ayesha! Now that you have modified your previous claim I can modify my answer too. Ofcourse, the non-Muslim minorities sadly get the short end of the stick. Obviously one can say, when Pashtoon, Baloch, Shias can kill top men from Majority as soon as their man falls why then Qadianees, Christians, Women folk & Hindus can't? It only proves these are the True Weak Minorities of Pakistan that must be quickly protected, respected and appreciated for Pakistan to ask equal or decent standing on world stage short of a totally uncivilized land of Cave-Men status. The job should not be difficult for the authorities as this "oppression of minorities" has it's origins in Local Ancient History & Cast System and clearly not a part of Islamic Fundamentals. This is the point where you hate the unpleasant outcome of democratic methods of voting and election on numbers basis. Because if democracy was so natural way of government why it promotes neglect of minorities & the low-vote groups?
@ApieceOfpeace: "@gp65: Bro, Pak minorities are very vigilant and resilient when it comes to taking revenge. All minorities have been in a tit-for-tat terms with the respective majorities in Pakistan, read the news more closely next time"
Not a "Bro". Am a woman. Anyway, please give me specific examples when Pakistani Hindus retaliated against Sunnis for kidnapping rape and forced conversions, when Ahmadis retaliated against Sunnis for breaking their worship places, desecrating their graves and much more, when Hazara Shias retaliated in response to target killing after identifyingpeople using ID cards, when Christians retaliated against false blasphemy cases or GOjra kilings for that matter. Just saying minorities indulge in tit-for-tat kiling does no make it so.
@Zeta "@gp65: your kind comes here and spend 23 out od 24 hours of your life bashing pakistan on pakistani sites. you don’t consider that freedom of hate speech genius?"
It is true that I frequently post comments on ET. Please provide a single instance when I have used hate speech. Also when you make a broad sweeping statement regarding "people like me" - who exactly are these people?All Hindus? All Indians? All women? Who exactly are " all people like me"?
@Zeta: Replying to arrogant comments from your kinds is neither Pakistan bashing nor it is hate speech. Its called sharing wisdom with a person who has possibly been fed with decades of wrong propaganda,hate curriculum,conspiracy theories,distorted history etc.
@gp65: your kind comes here and spend 23 out od 24 hours of your life bashing pakistan on pakistani sites. you don't consider that freedom of hate speech genius?
@ Jeeves Against freedom of speech ?? Cant u Shame China in same breath ?? Scared are u ?? Ur begging bawl will be broken immediateky na ??
Banning Internet will stop Bangladeshi immigrants, eliminate or reduce deprivation of neglected NE people, Bodo tribes will stop attaching Muslims :)
This shows that the Indian government is clueless, in denial and desperate. Assam has been burning because of ethnic tensions since the 1970s.
This is against freedom of speech. Shame on India!
So centuries old Indian ethnic and religious strife was caused by Facebook, Twitter and Pakistani SMS. Yeah right!
a lot of talk of indians hating pakistan/islam is indeed absolute non sense... muslims, constitute about 27% of the indian population (official figures are deliberately lowered for political resons) and are the fastest growing community in india...if india had hated minorities, the way they are in ur country, then muslims wud have been seen fleeing from india into pakistan, it never happens...or the govt. wud have restricted their rights in the country, just as the way minorities rights are restricted in pakistan by the constitution itself....there is indeeed no other nation where muslims can live and practice/preach what they wish to...none of the countries who consider themselves to be the champion of islam can vouch for that...none whatsoever
@gp65: Bro, Pak minorities are very vigilant and resilient when it comes to taking revenge. All minorities have been in a tit-for-tat terms with the respective majorities in Pakistan, read the news more closely next time. Now who knows the truth behind IP addresses. Blaming Pak for anything happens in India is nothing new. I understand it did to some extant calm the masses. It was a political statement that did work in past in calming public in India. Although, there might have been some controversial relationship between the elements in neighboring countries too, it happens around the world no one can deny that with confidence. Hopefully the two countries if ignore such elements may come closer together for the betterment of the people on the both sides of the border.
One Indian got threatening SMS and then he started running for life. In this scenario my neutral mind says that poor scared dude needs watch some horror movies or ride some roller coasters to fix his fears.
According to the The Hindu most of those fleeing are from low income groups working in blue collar jobs. They are influenced by SMS messages and phone calls and not by Internet postings since most of them don't even use the net.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/article3781533.ece?homepage=true
Is't it Shame for India in big time????
@BlackJack: "India would have never said muslim-majority Pakistan – it is just not part of acceptable diplomatic lingo for us."
Absolutely true. Your analysis is on the spot.
This issue clearly highlights one problem i.e. many Hindus do not have confidence that the UPA government will protect them from violent Muslim mobs due to its vote bank politics. It is very different if the bigotry is ethnic for e,g, when Shiv Sena was acting tough with Biharis , government intervened pretty strongly (As it should have). It does not show similar alacrity when SIMI is involved.
Still at least the IP addreses were tracked, government was jolted into action and hopefully the exodus will be stopped and reversed. Tell me have such prompt actions been taken by your government in case of target killing of Pushtoons in Karachi or Punjabi settlers in Balochistan? Not just threats but actual killing? ALso can you imagine that any minority in Pakistan would DARE to attack majority? What would be the scale of the backlash? I am not even talking about Hindus/Christians attacking Muslims. Do you think even Shias would dare to attack Sunnis as a reprisal for all the Shia target killing going on? Which countries then are the minorities secure?
Which country has a law and order problem and which country has law and order breakdown?
@Zeta: No country in the world allows hate speech or includes it under freedom of speech - except Pakistan.
I would rather be messed up than coming on my knees with a bowl in my hand.
@salman
whats wrong in hating "hate" ?
@ Salman...Mess? India?? I guess you are talking about Pakistan....:D @ Sick of Indian trolls...who loves Pakistan by the way..even your strategic assets dont....:P
So much for freedom of speech.
What happened to my comment ?
I stand for freedom of the net but government should also not be a mute spectator to hate messages and provocative content on the internet which is threat to law and order situation of the country. Those uploading 'fabricated' content on the internet should be brought to book and reminded that they can't get away with anything. However, 'truth' or 'facts' should be a valid defense in such matters.
@Salman: India would have never said muslim-majority Pakistan - it is just not part of acceptable diplomatic lingo for us. This is like the archaic terminology of 'arch-rivals' that AFP continues to use even now that appears most often in Pak newspapers. And yes, we are as fond of you guys as you are of us.
What a shame! and they come on this website to tell us that Pakistan has problems! They hate Pakistan to it's foundations and that's the truth.
It shows level of confidence in Indian govt! . Let's hope the Indians start trusting their own government, rather than fake text messages!
what a mess that country is - they see, talk, study hate Pakistan/Islam only