India bans Pakistani channels in social media crackdown
India bans Pakistani channels in social media crackdown/node/2598744/pakistan
India bans Pakistani channels in social media crackdown
A blocked message is displayed on YouTube in the place of a BBC documentary on the victim of a December 2012 gang-rape, in Bangalore on March 6, 2015. (AFP/File)
India bans Pakistani channels in social media crackdown
Banned platforms include YouTube channels of Pakistani news outlets Dawn, Samaa TV, ARY News, Raftar and Geo News
India has accused Pakistan of being involved in attack in Indian-administered Kashmir on Apr. 22 which Islamabad denies
Updated 10 min 17 sec ago
AFP
NEW DELHI: India launched a sweeping crackdown on social media on Monday, banning more than a dozen Pakistani YouTube channels for allegedly spreading “provocative” content following an attack in Kashmir.
The banned platforms include the YouTube channels of Pakistani news outlets Dawn, Samaa TV, ARY News, Bol News, Raftar, Geo News and Suno News.
The sites were blocked in India on Monday, with a message reading it was due to an “order from the government related to national security or public order.”
The Press Trust of India news agency, which listed 16 channels, cited a government statement saying they were blocked for “disseminating provocative and communally sensitive content, false and misleading narratives and misinformation against India.”
The ban follows the deadly April 22 shooting that targeted tourists in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir. Twenty-six men were killed in the attack, the worst on civilians in the contested region for a quarter of a century.
India has accused Pakistan of supporting “cross-border terrorism” but Islamabad has denied any role in the attack.
The information ministry also issued an advisory notice on Saturday calling on journalists and social media users to “exercise utmost responsibility” while reporting on matters “concerning defense and other security related operations.”
The advisory note, which cited previous cases of conflict with Pakistan including fighting in 1999 at Kargil, warned that “premature disclosure of sensitive information may inadvertently assist hostile elements and endanger operational effectiveness.”
Indian social media accounts have also been awash with comments on the killings at Pahalgam, with hashtags including #WarWithPakistan and #FinishPakistan trending on social media platform X.
ISLAMABAD: Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal has invited Turkmenistan’s energy companies to set up operations in Pakistan, state media reported on Monday, as Islamabad seeks foreign investment to boost the country’s economy and resolve its energy issues.
Energy-starved Pakistan is actively pursuing energy cooperation with Turkmenistan, particularly through the TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) gas pipeline project. This initiative aims to transport natural gas from Turkmenistan’s Galkynysh field to Pakistan, passing through Afghanistan and extending to India as well.
Pakistan has attempted to strengthen cooperation in energy, tourism, mines and minerals as well as other priority sectors in recent months in its bid to attract international investment. It seeks to establish itself as a trade and transit hub that connects landlocked Central Asian states to the global economy.
“Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal has invited energy companies of Turkmenistan to establish operations in Pakistan,” Radio Pakistan said in a report, adding that the minister was speaking at an event in Ashgabat.
Iqbal said the TAPI gas pipeline project would contribute to regional energy security and support Pakistan’s green energy transition, deeming it essential to cope with climate change impacts.
The TAPI project was envisaged in the early 1990s and officially agreed upon in December 2010. It has primarily been delayed due to security concerns, geopolitical tensions, funding challenges and bureaucratic hurdles.
Pakistan faces significant gas and energy problems that have deepened over the years due to a combination of rising demand, depleting domestic resources and poor management.
The country’s natural gas reserves are rapidly declining, while efforts to discover new fields have lagged behind.
Pakistan has increasingly relied on imported liquefied natural gas which strains its foreign exchange reserves and exposes it to global price fluctuations.
Frequent power shortages known as load-shedding disrupt daily life and hurt economic productivity. Outdated infrastructure, inefficiencies in the energy sector, circular debt and policy inconsistencies have made it difficult to develop long-term sustainable solutions.
Pakistan will hold its inaugural digital foreign direct investment forum this week, the information ministry said, as the country aims to showcase its digital economy potential, attract foreign fundings and promote technology exchanges.
The Digital Foreign Direct Investment (DFDI) 2025 forum, hosted in Islamabad from April 29-30, is being organized by the Pakistani ministry of IT and Telecommunication in collaboration with the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO). Over 400 delegates and more than 200 IT and telecom companies will attend the event from over 30 countries.
The forum will aim to bring together global policymakers to discuss frameworks that enhance digital infrastructure, adoption and exports across the 16 DCO member states. It will showcase the readiness of DCO member states, with Pakistan as the host, for digital investment by leveraging their skilled talent, supportive policies, and high-growth sectors such as fintech, AI and cybersecurity.
“The purpose is to showcase Pakistan’s digital economy, attract foreign investment and promote innovation and technology exchange,” the information ministry said.
The platform also aims to facilitate partnerships between IT leaders from DCO member states and international delegates to drive innovation, knowledge exchange, and cross-border cooperation. The goal is to present actionable prospects for investors, backed by data on the combined $3.5 trillion GDP and thriving digital ecosystems across DCO member states, including Pakistan’s dynamic IT sector.
“The Digital Foreign Direct Investment Forum is a strategic initiative designed to position Pakistan as a pivotal hub for digital investments,” IT Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja was quoted as saying on the forum’s official website.
As of 2025, Internet penetration in Pakistan was estimated at 58.4 percent, as per the IT ministry, with 142 million Internet users in a population of over 240 million. Mobile penetration is at 79.4 percent, including 72.99 million smart phone users.
Pakistan also has an over $3 billion IT export market, with IT exports reaching $1.86 billion in the first half of fiscal year 2024-25, up 28.04 percent year-on-year. Its exports grew 26 percent in the first half of the current fiscal year, reaching $300 million monthly.
Speaking to reporters at a briefing in Islamabad on Monday, Khawaja said over 10 ministers and vice ministers of IT and other allied ministries from different countries will be arriving on Monday and Tuesday for the forum.
“The idea is to showcase Pakistan in both categories, whether it’s the startup, venture capital potential that Pakistan has, or with the already institutionalized, large IT companies related to software and IT products that have, again, a huge potential when it comes to investment opportunities that will work,” Khawaja explained.
She said Pakistan’s IT industry has been growing at a “reasonably fast pace,” noting that its exports have grown annually between 24 percent to 27 percent.
“And we’re trying to actually increase the base further up, trying to hit the target of 4 billion hopefully this year,” Khawaja added.
But the forum is being held as digital media in Pakistan has been muffled with measures by telecom authorities to slow down Internet speeds and restrict VPN use while social media platform X has been blocked for over a year. Earlier this year, parliament approved a law to regulate social media content that rights activists and experts widely say is aimed at curbing press freedom and controlling the digital landscape. The government denies this.
Last year the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) said Pakistan’s economy could lose up to $300 million due to Internet disruptions caused by the imposition of a national firewall to monitor and regulate content and social media platforms. The government denies the use of the firewall for censorship.
Khawaja, however, said the government genuinely feels that the freedom Pakistani citizens generally have with regard to Internet usage is “quite high.”
“Actually except for X that you mentioned, there is no platform that is not accessible to anyone,” she said. “There are no, per se, restrictions on the usage.”
KARACHI: As US President Donald Trump ratcheted up his tariff war on the world, gold kept climbing in lockstep to reach a succession of record highs, including in Pakistan.
In recent weeks, gold has globally offered investors a safe haven from the chaos that has enveloped many financial markets since Trump’s tariff announcements on April 2. But at the same time, it has dampened consumption during the wedding season in Pakistan, as buyers and jewelers feel the brunt of high prices, with one tola, or nearly 12 grams, costing about Rs348,700 ($1,200). The average monthly income in Pakistan, meanwhile, is roughly Rs70,000 ($248).
“We can see that gold is hovering around an all-time high,” Kamal Ahmed, a commodities analyst at AKD Securities, told Arab News, adding that gold prices in Pakistan had surged 38 percent since the beginning of the year.
The increase, he said, was triggered by geopolitical tensions, the Russia-Ukraine war and macroeconomic uncertainty worsened by the latest US trade actions.
“When there is uncertainty in the economy, when there is uncertainty in the geopolitical situation, people like to invest in gold,” Ahmed explained, adding that central banks around the world had also bought “a lot of gold” recently to hedge against a possible tariff-driven recession.
In international markets, gold touched a record $3,500 per ounce, about 28.35 grams, on April 22, pushing local prices in Pakistan to fresh highs.
Gold earrings on display in a jewelry shop in karachi, Pakistan on April 26, 2025. (AN Photo)
Analysts suggest more pain ahead.
“I think gold might test $3,800 per ounce this year, and if it breaches that level, you could see $4,500 per ounce by the end of 2025,” said Ahmed.
Global brokerage firm JP Morgan has also predicted gold could rise beyond $4,000 per ounce next year, warning of growing recession risks tied to inflated US tariffs.
The impact on Pakistan, on a tricky path to economic recovery under a $7 billion IMF bailout program, could be severe.
“Investors would prefer to buy gold than invest in equities because they seek a very safe option,” said Ahmed.
For now, the math is simple: If Trump continues his trade war against China, and increases tariffs from the 10 percent base on other countries after his 90-day pause, then it’s likely that gold will continue to rally. But if a compromise with Beijing is worked out that allows both parties to save face, and other countries reach deals with Trump that largely preserve global trade, then the case for gold looks less secure.
On Monday, gold retreated as easing US-China trade tensions boosted investors’ risk appetite and dented demand for safe-haven assets such as bullion, while a stronger dollar also piled on the pressure.
In the domestic market, the price of 24-karat gold per tola fell by Rs3,300 on Monday, bringing it down to Rs348,700 ($1,200). The price of 10 grams of 24-karat gold also saw a decrease of Rs2,833, settling at Rs298,950 ($1,063).
But prices are still too high for most consumers and are dampening the spring/early summer wedding season in Pakistan, where gold is an intrinsic part of celebrations.
At a jeweler’s shop in Karachi’s oldest Sarafa Bazaar, Fatima, a housewife who only gave her first name, stared last week at rows of glittering gold sets she could no longer afford.
“I was buying gold for my daughter’s wedding that we have delayed for now because the prices of gold are very high,” Fatima said. “You either don’t give gold to your children at all or delay the marriage.”
She said she hoped prices might ease after Eid Al-Adha in June.
Jeweler, Muhammad Ishaq, observes a gold jewelry set in his shop in Karachi, Pakistan, on April 26, 2025. (AN Photo)
“The prevailing rates have made gold unreachable for the poor,” M. Iqbal, director of the All Pakistan Sarafa Gems & Jewelers Association, said, estimating that about 65 percent of traders in the gold market were actively buying, further driving up demand and prices.
“It’s risen beyond their purchasing power now. Gold has become an investor’s business only.”
He warned that if the tariff war dragged on, gold prices in Pakistan could swell beyond Rs500,000 ($1,780) per tola.
“People are managing their weddings by purchasing lesser quantities of gold,” Iqbal warned. “People who used to buy two or more tolas are now purchasing only half of it, and that too because it’s a tradition.”
Muhammad Yaqoob Ishaq, a jeweler whose family has traded gold for more than a century, said many customers were now opting for artificial jewelry.
“Nowadays artificial jewelry is trending in weddings,” he said. “People have been buying artificial jewelry or using silver ornaments that are gold coated.”
India, Pakistan exchange small arms fire across Kashmir border for fourth night
New Delhi accuses Islamabad of being involved in attack on Indian-administered Kashmir on Apr. 22
India’s defense forces have conducted several military exercises across the country since attack
Updated 28 April 2025
Reuters
SRINAGAR: India said on Monday it had responded to ‘unprovoked’ firing from Pakistan along the de facto border for the fourth consecutive night, as it deepens its search for militants in the region following last week’s deadly attack on tourists in Kashmir.
After the April 22 attack that killed 26 people, India has identified two of the three suspected militants as Pakistani, although Islamabad has denied any role and called for a neutral probe.
Security officials and survivors have said the militants segregated the men at the site, a meadow in the Pahalgam area, asked their names and targeted Hindus before shooting them at close range.
The attack triggered outrage and grief in Hindu-majority India, along with calls for action against Islamic Pakistan, whom New Delhi accuses of funding and encouraging terrorism in Kashmir, a region both nations claim and have fought two wars over.
The nuclear-armed nations have unleashed a raft of measures against each other, with India putting the critical Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance and Pakistan closing its airspace to Indian airlines.
The Indian Army said it had responded to “unprovoked” small arms fire from multiple Pakistan Army posts around midnight on Sunday along the 740-km (460-mile) de facto border separating the Indian and Pakistani areas of Kashmir. It gave no further details and reported no casualties.
The Pakistani military did not respond to a request for comment.
In a separate statement, the Pakistan army said it has killed 54 Islamist militants who were trying to enter the country from the Afghanistan border to the west in the last two days.
India’s defense forces have conducted several military exercises across the country since the attack. Some of these are routine preparedness drills, a defense official said.
Security forces have detained around 500 people for questioning after they searched nearly 1,000 houses and forests hunting for militants in Indian Kashmir, a local police official told Reuters on Monday.
At least nine houses have been demolished so far, the official added.
Political leaders in the state have called for caution to ensure the innocent are not harmed in the government’s actions against terrorism after the deadliest incident of its kind in India in nearly two decades.
“It’s time to... avoid any misplaced action that alienates people. Punish the guilty, show them no mercy but don’t let innocent people become collateral damage,” Omar Abdullah, the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir said on X on Saturday.
Kashmir Resistance, also known as The Resistance Front, said in a post on X that it “unequivocally” denied involvement in last week’s attack, after an initial message that claimed responsibility.
The group, considered an offshoot of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba by a Delhi-based think tank, blamed a ‘cyber intrusion’ for the previous social media post that claimed responsibility.
US in touch with India and Pakistan, urges work toward ‘responsible solution’
Tensions have surged after India blamed Pakistan for Apr. 22 attack in Indian-administered Kashmir
India and Pakistan have exchanged fire since last week at de facto border after four years of relative calm
Updated 28 April 2025
Reuters
WASHINGTON: The US State Department said on Sunday Washington was in touch with both India and Pakistan while urging them to work toward what it called a “responsible solution” as tensions have risen between the two Asian nations following a recent Islamist militant attack in Kashmir.
In public, the US government has expressed support for India after the attack but has not criticized Pakistan. India blamed Pakistan for the April 22 attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed over two dozen people. Pakistan denies responsibility and called for a neutral probe.
“This is an evolving situation and we are monitoring developments closely. We have been in touch with the governments of India and Pakistan at multiple levels,” a US State Department spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement.
“The United States encourages all parties to work together toward a responsible resolution,” the spokesperson added.
The State Department spokesperson also said Washington “stands with India and strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Pahalgam,” reiterating comments similar to recent ones made by President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
India is an increasingly important US partner as Washington aims to counter China’s rising influence in Asia while Pakistan remains a US ally even as its importance for Washington has diminished after the 2021 US withdrawal from neighboring Afghanistan.
Michael Kugelman, a Washington-based South Asia analyst and writer for the Foreign Policy magazine, said India is now a much closer US partner than Pakistan.
“This may worry Islamabad that if India retaliates militarily, the US may sympathize with its counter-terrorism imperatives and not try to stand in the way,” Kugelman told Reuters.
Kugelman also said that given Washington’s involvement and ongoing diplomatic efforts in Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza, the Trump administration is “dealing with a lot on its global plate” and may leave India and Pakistan on their own, at least in the early days of the tensions.
Hussain Haqqani, a former Pakistan ambassador to the US and a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute think tank, also said that there seemed to be no US appetite to calm the situation at this moment.
“India has a longstanding grievance about terrorism emanating or supported from across border. Pakistan has a longstanding belief that India wants to dismember it. Both work themselves into a frenzy every few years. This time there is no US interest in calming things down,” Haqqani said. ESCALATING TENSIONS
Muslim-majority Kashmir is claimed in full by both Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan who each rule over only parts of it and have previously fought wars over the Himalayan region.
Hindu nationalist Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to pursue the attackers to “the ends of the earth” and said that those who planned and carried out the Kashmir attack “will be punished beyond their imagination.” Calls have also grown from Indian politicians and others for military action against Pakistan.
After the attack, India and Pakistan unleashed a raft of measures against each other, with Pakistan closing its airspace to Indian airlines and India suspending the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty that regulates water-sharing from the Indus River and its tributaries.
The two sides have also exchanged fire across their de facto border after four years of relative calm.
A little-known militant group, Kashmir Resistance, claimed responsibility for the attack in a social media message. Indian security agencies say Kashmir Resistance, also known as The Resistance Front, is a front for Pakistan-based militant organizations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen.
Ned Price, a former US State Department official under the administration of former President Joe Biden, said that while the Trump administration was giving this issue the sensitivity it deserves, a perception that it would back India at any cost may escalate tensions further.
“The Trump Administration has made clear it wishes to deepen the US-India partnership — a laudable goal — but that it is willing to do so at almost any cost. If India feels that the Trump Administration will back it to the hilt no matter what, we could be in store for more escalation and more violence between these nuclear-armed neighbors,” Price said.
