National Urdu Council withdraws conference invite to 9 Pakistani litterateurs
New Delhi, Feb 19: The National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language has withdrawn its invitation to nine Pakistani litterateurs for the World Urdu Conference in wake of the Pulwama attack, officials said Tuesday.
The NCPUL, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD), was set up to promote, develop and propagate Urdu language.
"The coward attack which has taken place in Pulwama has left the entire country furious. A country which is involved in such acts, it is not a wise thing to invite their writers to the celebrate literature here," said NCUPL Director Aquil Ahmed.
"We have withdrawn our invitation to nine Pakistani writers for the conference to register our protest against the attack and keeping the sentiments of the country in mind," Ahmed added.
The Wold Urdu Conference, an annual event organised by NCPUL, is scheduled to be held next month and will witness participation of Urdu scholars from across the globe.
Forty Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district last week when a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus.
In the wake of the attack, the All Indian Cine Workers Association (AICWA) had on Monday announced a blanket ban on Pakistani actors and artists working in the Indian film industry.
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MediaOne TV Facebook page restored after block linked to ‘government request’
Kochi: The official Facebook page of Malayalam news channel MediaOne TV has been restored after being blocked without prior notice, the broadcaster said on Wednesday.
The channel was quoted by Maktoob as saying that the restriction was lifted automatically, with Meta Platforms informing it that the action had been taken following a “government request” which has now expired or been reversed.
The development came shortly after the channel approached the Kerala High Court challenging the blocking of its page, terming it arbitrary and in violation of legal provisions and judicial precedents. The High Court had issued notice to Meta via email hours before the restriction was withdrawn.
In its petition, the channel said access to its Facebook page had been restricted for users in India without citing any specific content or alleged violation. It contended that while individual posts may be taken down under applicable a rule, blocking an entire page goes beyond the scope of such measures.
The incident followed an earlier action taken against the channel in 2022, when the Ministry of Information and transmitting prohibited it from transmitting. It cited national security concerns regarding the Ministry of Home Affairs' refusal of security clearance.
The Supreme Court of India in April 2023 set aside the ban, observing that national security claims cannot be made without substantive basis and that criticism of government policies does not render a media outlet anti-national.
