PHOTO: AFP
NEW DELHI: India’s government took Al Jazeera news channel off the air on Wednesday for five days after officials insisted it had repeatedly shown wrong maps of disputed Kashmir.
Al Jazeera in India showed a blue screen on Wednesday with a sign saying “as instructed by the ministry of information and broadcasting, this channel will not be available”.
The order was given because of aired maps that showed parts of the disputed Himalayan Kashmir region in the territory of Pakistan and China.
“The ban has been imposed for five days and it was done on instructions of an inter-ministerial committee, who took cognisance of an incorrect map of India in which the channel showed parts of Kashmir in Pakistan and China,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The order comes amid a series of recent bans that have sparked accusations of a growing climate of intolerance under Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
They include a ban on screening a BBC documentary on the fatal gang-rape of a student that sparked mass protests in Delhi. al Anstey, managing director of Al Jazeera English, declared the ban “a disproportionate response.”
“Unfortunately, this is the latest in a series of ongoing issues. Our journalists have not been granted visas for years now,” Anstey said in a statement to the media.
New Delhi imposes tight restrictions on all printed maps, insisting they show all of Kashmir as being part of India.
In another incident of heightening intolerance, the Shiv Sena has once again forced the cancellation of a concert by Pakistani singer Atif Aslam scheduled at Hadapsar in Pune city this Saturday. Confirming the cancellation of the April 25 event, the Anjaneya SatheGroup, termed it “exceedingly unfortunate,” The Hindu reported. The concert has been cancelled after the Sena reportedly threatened to disrupt the event if it took place on Saturday. (
Published in The Express Tribune, April 23rd, 2015.
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