The suspension followed a formal demand to this effect by the Indian government, X said on its update related to the matter. The account was suspended in the wake of disinformation and fake news being spread through Asif’s official handle and in the wake of Asif’s confession on camera that Pakistan has been backing terror groups against India at the behest of the UK and the US.
X accounts of some Pakistani journalists learnt to be working for Pakistan ISI have been similarly suspended.
Earlier on Monday, India announced a ban on 16 Pakistani YouTube channels for spreading provocative and communally sensitive content and misinformation against India, its Army and security agencies in the backdrop of the tragic Pahalgam terror incident in Jammu and Kashmir.
Collectively, these channels have a massive following of over 63 million subscribers.
In a video clip that has now gone viral, Pakistan’s Defence Minister was in conversation with Sky News’ Yalda Hakim, when she asks him, “But you do admit, you do admit, sir, that Pakistan has had a long history of backing and supporting and training and funding these terrorist organisations?”
Khwaja Asif in his reply says, “We have been doing this dirty work for the United States for about 3 decades… and the west, including Britain…That was a mistake, and we suffered for that, and that is why you are saying this to me. If we had not joined the war against the Soviet Union and later on the war after 9/11, Pakistan’s track record was unimpeachable.” Asif’s statement lays bare the fact that Pakistan, for many years, has been harboring these terror groups.
Following the terror attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 people, the Central government announced several diplomatic measures, such as closing the Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Attari, suspending the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES) for Pakistani nationals, giving them 40 hours to return to their country, and reducing the number of officers in the High Commissions on both sides.
India also halted the Indus Waters Treaty signed in 1960 in the wake of the Pahalgam attack.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also assured the country that the terrorists responsible for this attack, along with those who conspired it, will face punishment beyond their imagination. The Prime Minister asserted that the time has come to eliminate the remaining strongholds of terrorism and that the willpower of 140 crore Indians will now break the backbone of the perpetrators of terror.
