Govt blocks 16 Pak YouTube channels for anti-India content
New Delhi (PTI): The government has blocked 16 Pakistani YouTube channels for allegedly disseminating "false, provocative and communally sensitive content" about India and has also strongly objected to the BBC's reportage on the Pahalgam attack, officials said on Monday.
The government's move follows recommendations from the Ministry of Home Affairs in the wake of the April 22 terror attack in the upper reaches of the Kashmir resort town in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed. Besides, the Ministry of External Affairs will be monitoring reporting of the BBC, which termed terrorists as militants, officials said.
The YouTube channels blocked are Dawn News, Irshad Bhatti, SAMAA TV, ARY NEWS, BOL NEWS, Raftar, The Pakistan Reference, Geo News, Samaa Sports, GNN, Uzair Cricket, Umar Cheema Exclusive, Asma Shirazi, Muneeb Farooq, SUNO News and Razi Naama.
"On the recommendations of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Government of India has banned Pakistani YouTube channels for disseminating provocative and communally sensitive content, false and misleading narratives and misinformation against India, its Army and security agencies in the backdrop of the tragic Pahalgam terror incident in Jammu and Kashmir," officials said.
In a missive to BBC India head Jackie Martin, the MEA conveyed the country's strong sentiments over the reporting on the Pahalgam terror attack. It objected to the description of terrorists as "militants" in its reporting on the Pahalgam tragedy.
In one news flash, the BBC said, “Pakistan suspends visas for Indians after deadly Kashmir attack on tourists”. This was flagged by the government as objectionable.
"A formal letter has been sent to the BBC on terming terrorists as militants. The External Publicity Division of the MEA will be monitoring the reporting of the BBC," an official added.
The government has also blocked a message doing the rounds on WhatsApp terming it as "misleading". The message talked about the contribution of one rupee every day for "modernisation of the Indian Army and for soldiers who are injured or martyred in the war zone".
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
