Arshad Nadeem’s Instagram account blocked in India, Pakistan cricketers spared
Pakistan’s Olympic javelin champion Arshad Nadeem’s Instagram account was blocked in India on Wednesday evening, days after a terror attack that killed 26 Indian tourists in Pahalgam in Kashmir.
Popular Pakistani artists, including actors Mahira Khan, Hania Aamir and Ali Zafar, also had their Instagram accounts blocked in India. The Indian government has taken a series of measures – including cancellation of SVES Visas, putting the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance and blocking of many Pakistani social media handles – after the terrorist attack.
“Those behind this heinous act will be brought to justice,” the Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). “Our resolve to fight terrorism is unshakable and it will get even stronger.”
On Wednesday, Arshad’s Instagram account featured a blank page with an official statement explaining the decision – “Account not available in India. This is because we complied with a legal request to restrict this content.“
The accounts of Pakistan’s high-profile cricketers – past and present – however are still accessible from India. Accounts of Babar Azam (5.7 million followers on Instagram), Mohammad Rizwan (1.7 million followers), Shaheen Shah Afridi (2.6 million followers) were still accessible in contrast to Arshad (802,000 followers).
The account of former Pakistan cricket captain Shahid Afridi (4.5 million followers), who had recently criticised the Indian army and subsequently traded barbs with ex-India opener Shikhar Dhawan on a social media platform, is also accessible.
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Arshad’s last six posts were a promotion of a fertilizer, a photo from a golf competition, an appearance at the ICC Champions Trophy, two promotions for the video game PUBG and another promotion for a nutritional supplement. Arshad’s X handle, which mostly posts the same content as his Instagram, is still accessible in India.
The Pakistani javelin thrower had recently received an invitation to compete in the Neeraj Chopra Classic competition in Bengaluru on May 24, but had declined the invitation citing prior commitments. Following the terror attack, Neeraj was heavily criticised, and his family was also targeted on social media for inviting Arshad.
The Tokyo Olympic gold medallist and current World champion Neeraj took to social media to quell the anger and said: “Arshad’s presence in the competition was completely out of the question.”