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India bans Twitter accounts of several Pakistani embassies, journalists

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  • MOFA terms India’s move “deeply concerning”.
  • Says Pakistan is urging Twitter to restore restricted embassies’ accounts.
  • Twitter handles of Murtaza Ali Shah, Rana Ayub and CJ Werleman withheld.

India has blocked the flow of information to the country’s Twitter by banning the official accounts of several Pakistani embassies, journalists and some prominent personalities on the micro-blogging site, under  India’s Information Technology Act, 2000.

“Deeply concerning that #India has blocked the flow of information to Indian Twitter by withholding access to the following official accounts,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Monday night, while listing down the banned accounts in a tweet.

The banned accounts include accounts of the Pakistani Embassy in UN, Turkey, Iran and Egypt.

“Diminishing space for plurality of voices & access to info in India is extremely alarming,” the tweet from MOFA’s official account read.

MOFA called out Twitter, saying that social media platforms should abide by the applicable international norms. It said that the government of Pakistan is urging the tech company to restore access to the restricted accounts immediately and ensure adherence to democratic freedoms of speech and expression.

Twitter handles of prominent journalists withheld

Meanwhile, the Twitter handles of journalists, including The News and Geo News reporter in London, Murtaza Ali Shah, Rana Ayub and CJ Werleman have also been withheld by the company under India’s Information Technology Act, 2000.

Indian journalist Aditya Jha announced that the Shah’s account has been blocked in India over a “legal demand” by the state of India. 

Murtaza Ali Shah has around 550,000 followers on his verified Twitter @MurtazaViews account. He has been associated with The News and Geo for more than 17 years. 

Shah confirmed he received an email notice from Twitter about India’s legal action against his account. 

The notice from Twitter that Murtaza Ali Shah shared read: Hello @MurtazaViews, in order to comply with Twitter’s obligations under India’s local laws, we have withheld the following account in India under the country’s Information Technology Act, 2000; the content remains available elsewhere:

“As Twitter strongly believes in defending and respecting the voice of the people who use our service, it is our policy to notify account holders if we receive a legal request from an authorised entity (such law enforcement or government agency) to remove content from their account. We provide notice whether or not the user lives in the country where the request originated,” it read.

Murtaza Ali Shah, who originates from Kashmir but lives in London with his family, said he was shocked to receive notice from Twitter and termed it an attack on legitimate freedom of expression.

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Lahore, PP-161: LHC deems the ECP recounting order null and invalid

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Farrukh Javed, the victorious candidate, filed a petition against the Election Commission of Pakistan’s order to recount the votes in PP-161 before a single bench of the high court, led by Justice Shahid Karim, was formed.

The bench dismissed the ECP’s order to recount the votes in the constituency and accepted the petition.

The PML-N candidate Umar Sohail filed a petition for a vote recount with the electoral commission, according to Unmute Farrukh Javed MPA’s court plea.

Per the petitioner, the electoral commission issued a notice of vote recount after granting the second-place candidate’s request.

In his view, the election process was not yet over when the ECP issued the order for a vote recount.

The ECP’s order for the recounting of ballots in provincial constituency PP-161 was revoked by the bench after it allowed the petition.

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The LHC has issued a summons regarding the policy on wheat procurement.

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The court was considering a petition filed by the Punjab farmers challenging the province government’s decision to decline purchasing wheat from them.

The petitioner alleged that the government is legally obligated to procure wheat from farmers at the designated price and had publicised a policy to purchase wheat from farmers at Rs 3,900 per maund. However, the government has failed to put this policy into effect.

The Punjab government was scheduled to commence the procurement of wheat from farmers on April 22. However, there has been no progress thus far in the wheat purchase, thereby exposing farmers to the risk of selling their harvests at reduced prices as a result of rainfall.

The petitioner implored the court to mandate the government’s procurement of wheat from farmers and to initiate measures against the mafia.

Punjab farmers have filed a petition with the Lahore High Court (LHC) to challenge the government’s decision to not purchase their wheat.

Following an initial hearing on the case, Justice Shahid Karim, the judge of the LHC, requested a documentation of the Punjab government’s choices pertaining to wheat purchase.

Punjab’s farmers are currently protesting the government’s decision to postpone the purchase of wheat from them.

Yesterday, insiders from the Food Department disclosed that the Punjab government has not yet made a decision regarding the procurement of wheat.

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Lahore experiences a winter-like ambiance following rainfall.

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Lahore’s maximum temperature has significantly decreased due to recent rainfall in the province capital over the past 24 hours.

Jail Road saw a rainfall of 8.5 millimeters, Gulberg received 10 millimeters, and Lakshmi Chowk received 14 millimeters of rainfall. In addition, Upper Mall received a rainfall measurement of 5 millimeters, Mughalpura received 3.5 millimeters, and Tajpura received 3 millimeters.

In addition, Nishtar Town received a rainfall of 1 millimeter, Pani Wala Talab received 12 millimeters, Farukh Abad received 4 millimeters, Gulshan Ravi received 20 millimeters, Iqbal Town received 6 millimeters, Samanabad received 8 millimeters, and Johar Town received 1 millimeter.

The city’s electricity transmission infrastructure has been significantly affected by the rain, resulting in the tripping of over 100 Lesco feeders. Multiple localities had power outages as a result of tripped feeders and other technical malfunctions.

Power outages have resulted in substantial discomfort for people in several localities, including as Manawan, Batapur, Sabzazar, Gulshan Ravi, Samanabad, Pir Nasir, Mughalpura, Shalimar, Mustafa Abad, Baghbanpura, Ferozpur Road, Islampura, Qila Gujjar Singh, and Walton Road.

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