A day after blocking 16 Pakistani YouTube channels for broadcasting “false and provocative” content following the Pahalgam terrorist attack, the central government on Tuesday withheld the Twitter account of Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif.

A notice on his X profile states, “@KhawajaMAsif has been withheld in IN in response to a legal demand.”

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The move comes amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan after the brutal April 22 terrorist attack on tourists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, in which 26 people were killed and more than a dozen others sustained injuries.

Asif made headlines after he publicly admitted that Pakistan has been supporting and funding terror organisations. In an interview with Sky News, Asif was asked whether Pakistan has a history of training and funding terrorists.
In response, he admitted that the country has been doing this “dirty work” for decades for the United States and the West, including Britain.

The decision to withhold his X account came days after the official X account of the Government of Pakistan was suspended in India. It also came a day after India banned 16 Pakistani YouTube channels for disseminating provocative and communally sensitive content, as well as false and misleading narratives against India.

The banned YouTube channels included those of leading Pakistani news outlets such as Dawn, ARY News, Geo News, Samaa TV, Bol News, Raftar, and Suno News. Moreover, the YouTube channels of prominent journalists, including Irshad Bhatti, Asma Shirazi, Muneeb Farooq, and Umar Cheema, were also blocked.

Uzair Cricket, The Pakistan Reference, Razi Naama, and Samaa Sports are the other well-known YouTube channels India has blocked for spreading false and provocative content.

According to sources, the banned YouTube channels were involved in spreading provocative and communally charged content. They were also found to be disseminating false and misleading narratives against India following the Pahalgam terror attack.

The Centre has also written to BBC India head Jackie Martin, conveying its strong sentiments regarding the British broadcaster’s reporting on the Pahalgam terrorist attack. The government has flagged the BBC’s use of the term “militants” for the terrorists who killed Indian and foreign tourists.