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India has asked its telecom operators to find ways of blocking applications such as Facebook and messaging app WhatsApp in the case of misuse, according to a document seen by Reuters.
India has in recent months intensified efforts to crack down on mass message forwards after it found that people were using social media and messaging apps to spread rumours and stoke public anger.
WhatsApp in particular has faced the wrath of Indian regulators after false messages circulated on the messaging platform led to a series of lynchings and mob beatings across the country.
The department of telecommunications in July asked Indian telecom service providers, as well as mobile and internet industry bodies, to "explore various possible options" to block such apps.
"You are ... requested to explore various possible options and confirm how the Instagram/Facebook/Whatsapp/Telegram and such other mobile apps can be blocked on internet," according to the government letter dated July 18 and seen by Reuters.
Facebook Inc, which owns both WhatsApp and photo-sharing platform Instagram, declined to comment. Telegram did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A source at India's department of telecommunication said the letter was aimed at finding ways to block such apps during "emergency situations".
"There is a need for a reasonable good solution to protect national security," said the official, who declined to be named.
For WhatsApp, India is its biggest market with more than 200 million users and one where it says people forward more messages, photographs and videos than any other country.
Following calls from the government to stem the platform's misuse, WhatsApp has moved to deter mass message forwards and launched an advertising campaign to educate consumers.
In July, WhatsApp said message forwards will be limited to five chats at a time, whether among individuals or groups, and said it will remove the quick forward button placed next to media messages.
Separately, India's federal police has begun probing Cambridge Analytica's misuse of Facebook user data, which New Delhi suspects included information on Indian users.
Jammu and Kashmir on Monday witnessed a shutdown on the second consecutive day amid fears that India’s top court will revoke a law protecting exclusive citizenship rights.However, the court on Monday adjourned the hearing of a petition challenging the special status of Jammu and Kashmir that prevents non-residents of the state from purchasing property in the region and thereby maintaining the Muslim majority character of the region.The case will be heard on August 27.“The Bench will determine whether the case should be referred to a Constitution Bench. Today, as you see, the other judge is absent and so we have to hear the case another day,” India’s Chief Justice, Dipak Misra, told the petitioners who objected to an adjournment.Indian forces kill 5 in KashmirArticle 35A, incorporated in the Indian Constitution by a 1954 Presidential Order, confers special status to the permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir, and bars people from outside the state from acquiring any immovable property in the state.Citing intelligence reports, the local media warned of a possible revolt in the region’s police department if Kashmir's special status was tampered with.Indian troops kill five in Kashmir, draw protestsThe shutdown was called by the region's pro-Independence leadership.In a Twitter post, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a pro-independence leader, said a strict vigil would be maintained on the situation and that the protest would continue.Another pro-Independence leader, Syed Aga Hassan, said any effort to “tinker with” the law would create “a Palestine-like situation” in Kashmir.India’s new citizens’ draft list sparks controversy“A conspiracy has been hatched to change the demography of the Muslim-majority state,” Hasssan said, threatening a massive agitation if that was done.The petition challenging Kashmir’s special status came from a non-governmental organization “ We the People.”According to the petition, Article 35 A is against the “very spirit of oneness of India” as it created a “class within a class of Indian citizens.”Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- two of them over Kashmir.Also, in Siachen glacier in northern Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani troops have fought intermittently since 1984. A cease-fire came into effect in 2003.Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have reportedly been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.
Shutdown in Kashmir as rights law feared under threat
Five were killed by Indian forces during an overnight gun battle in the village of Killora, Shopian in southern Kashmir.“We had information that a group of militants are there in the area. Jammu and Kashmir police, army, CRPF cordoned the area. A militant was killed in the encounter last night. The firing was resumed today and bodies of four more militants were recovered. Operation has now been called off,” Jammu and Kashmir police chief Shesh Paul Vaid told reporters on Saturday.As news of the killings spread, people from adjoining villages came out to the streets to protest. Shouting slogans for independence, the protesters threw stones at Indian forces who used pellets and tear gas shells on the protesters, eyewitnesses said.In a separate gun battle on Friday, two militants, including an engineering graduate who had joined the militants just four days before, were killed in Sopore, northern Kashmir. An Indian army soldier was also killed in Friday’s gunfight, while three others were injured.Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- two of them over Kashmir.Also, in Siachen glacier in northern Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani troops have fought intermittently since 1984. A cease-fire came into effect in 2003.Some Kashmiri groups have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have reportedly been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.
Indian forces kill 5 in Kashmir
Indian security forces on Saturday killed five in the disputed region of Kashmir, the biggest single-day casualty since Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government took direct control of the state, leading to protests.Modi's Hindu nationalist party pulled out of a coalition government in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in June, citing a deterioration in security, leading to president's rule or direct control by the federal government.Dozens of protesters were injured, two of them critically with gunshot wounds, as a large number of youths gathered in Kilora village in South Kashmir's Shopian district and pelted Indian troops with stones.Video: Indian troops kill five in KashmirWitnesses said troops fired tear gas, pellets and bullets to quell the protests. A doctor at the local hospital said they had received at least two dozen injured people.Srinagar-based Indian Defence Ministry spokesman, Colonel Rajesh Kalia, told Reuters the five were killed on Saturday.The Indian army along with the police on Friday launched an operation, who, they said, were hiding in Kilora village. The officer said they recovered automatic assault rifles.Officials say 227 people, including 52 Indian security force personnel, have been killed this year in the Kashmir conflict.
Indian troops kill five in Kashmir, draw protests