Twitter locks official handle of a Kashmiri weekly

By Nusrat Sidiq

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir (AA) - The Twitter account of multimedia magazine KashmirWalla was locked by the social media company after it tweeted one of its stories in August about regional police attacks against a Shia mourners procession, its owner said Friday.

The story, "They attacked women, children, Kashmir's pellet riddled muharram procession," was reported Aug. 29 and detailed how women, children and men were fired upon with hundreds of lead pellets during a mourning procession in memory of the Muslim prophet's grandson, Hussain.

The story was reposted Thursday but was soon found to violate Twitter’s policies.

“It violates our rules against posting media depicting the moment of death of an individual(s)," according to Twitter.

The editor and owner of the magazine, Fahad Shah, told Anadolu Agency that he does not understand how a reported news story can violate rules.

“The media was an urgent news story of police brutality against unarmed civilians during a religious procession that @tkwmag reported in Aug 2020. The tweet doesn’t encourage violence but is an important documentation of the use of violence against unarmed civilians. @TwitterIndia.” he wrote on his account.

Shah said despite explaining and appealing to Twitter to restore the account, it has not been done.

"We have been unable to post our stories through Twitter since yesterday, it is just another low," said Shah.

Twitter was accused in 2019 of suppressing freedom of expression in the Kashmir region after a study by media watchdog, Committee to Protect Journalists, revealed that nearly 1 million tweets have been removed since 2017.

- Disputed region

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.

Since being partitioned in 1947, New Delhi and Islamabad have fought three wars – in 1948, 1965, and 1971 – two of them over Kashmir.

Also, in Siachen glacier in northern Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani troops have fought intermittently since 1984. A cease-fire took effect in 2003.

Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence or unification with neighboring Pakistan.

According to several human rights groups, thousands have been killed in the conflict since 1989.