Foreign Office (FO) has upturned alarm over the Indian government’s policy of blocking access to information after New Delhi asked social media giant Twitter to block the accounts of Islamabad’s diplomatic missions.
Spokesperson of Foreign Office, in a tweet on Monday, expressed worry over the “diminishing space for plurality of voices and access to information in India”.
Deeply concerning that #India has blocked flow of information to Indian @Twitter by withholding access to following official accounts????????
— Spokesperson ???????? MoFA (@ForeignOfficePk) June 27, 2022
????@PakinIran
????@PakinTurkey
????@PakinEgypt
????@PakistanUN_NY.
These are in addition to many others for which access has been blocked.
FO thought the practice of blocking the flow of information “extremely alarming” and specified that social media platforms must abide by appropriate international norms.
The Foreign Office also advised the microblogging site to restore immediate access to accounts and ensure faithfulness to democratic freedoms of speech and expression.
Deeply concerning that #India has blocked flow of information to Indian @Twitter by withholding access to following official accounts????????
— Spokesperson ???????? MoFA (@ForeignOfficePk) June 27, 2022
????@PakinIran
????@PakinTurkey
????@PakinEgypt
????@PakistanUN_NY.
These are in addition to many others for which access has been blocked.
Islamabad said that the Twitter accounts of Pakistan’s missions in Iran, Turkey, Egypt, and the United Nations among the many that blocked.
Previously, according to Indian media, India’s ministry of information and broadcasting had moved to block Pakistan-based social media and YouTube accounts appealing that they were responsible for spreading false information.