Govt bans 20 YouTube channels, two websites under new IT rules

 The Youtube channels and the websites were allegedly running anti-India content from Pakistan.

20 YouTube channels and two websites on Monday were taken down by India after the Union government, for the first time, invoked the emergency powers under the intermediary guidelines and digital media ethics code in the IT Act that was notified recently, according to a news report in Economic Times. The YouTube channels and the websites were allegedly running anti-India content from Pakistan.

According to the newspaper, I&B secretary Apurva Chandra directed YouTube and the Department of Telecom to ban the content as it infringes upon the sovereignty and integrity of India.

I&B officials said that the ‘anti-India content’ was being run by Pakistan with the help of Inter-Services Intelligence. One of the groups identified on YouTube was ‘Naya Pakistan‘ that had more than 2 million subscribers and was running ‘false news’ on various issues such as Kashmir, farmers protests in India, Article 370, and Ayodhya. The total subscriber base of these YouTube channels is estimated to be more than 3.5 million and have a total viewership of 500 million, according to the officials.

Army confirms Pakistan hand in Pulwama, says attack avenged within 100 hrs

On Monday, three JeM terrorists were killed in a 16-hour encounter in Pinglan in Pulwama district, about 12 km from the site of the February 14 attack

Latest News: The Pulwama suicide bombing was masterminded by Jaish-e-Mohammed and Pakistan’s ISI, a senior Army officer said on Tuesday, five days after 40 CRPF personnel were killed in one of the deadliest terror attacks in the Valley.

Corps Commander Lt Gen K J S Dhillon of the Chinar Corps said this in a joint press conference by IG Kashmir S P Pani and IG CRPF Zulfiqar Hasan. He also said he requested mothers of Kashmiri militants to persuade their sons to surrender.’

“Anyone who picks up the gun will be eliminated,” the officer said. According to Dhillon, security forces had been tracking the top leadership of the JeM since the February 14 bombing in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.

“We have eliminated the top commander who carried out the Pulwama attack,” Dhillon said. On Monday, three JeM terrorists were killed in a 16-hour encounter in Pinglan in Pulwama district, about 12 km from the site of the February 14 attack. An Army major and five others were also killed.

Read More Story On Pulwama Terror Attack

Pak responds to US, says ISI's 'links' with terrorists not same as support

After US' Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the ISI has links to terrorists, Pak attempted to defend itself by claiming that having links with such groups was not the same as supporting them

Pakistan's military establishment on Thursday attempted to draw a distinction between its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency "having links" with militant organisations and "supporting" such outfits, the Pakistan daily Dawn reported.

In a wide-ranging conference that saw the country's powerful military establishment discuss security issues, including internal security, civil-military relations, and relations with India, Afghanistan, and the US, the director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations, Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, hit out against allegations that the ISI has tied with militant organisations.

"Having links is different from supporting. Name any intelligence agency which does not have links. Links can be positive, and he [US Defence Secretary James Mattis] did not say there was support, so the narrative [against Pakistan's army and intelligence agencies] that I talked about is relevant here as well. We should not be a part of it. We have our own narrative," Ghafoor said, according to Dawn.

ALSO READ: Economic benefits for Pak from India if it ends terror safe haven: Mattis

Ghafoor's attempt at differentiating "links" from "support" came even as the country's civilian establishment, stung by remarks from US officials, sought to defend the ISI.

According to agency reports that cited Dawn, the Pakistani Foreign Office on Thursday refuted as "baseless" the remarks of a top US general who said the ISI has connections with terrorist groups.

"The US government and army cannot make Pakistan a scapegoat for its failures in Afghanistan," Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said....read more