Social media giant Facebook in Indian part of Kashmir has started a clamp down on fb news pages and accounts for uploading the photographs of Scholar turned Hizb militant Dr Manan Wani.Manan Wani along with his associate Ashiq Hussain Zargar of Tulwari Langate were killed in Shatgund area of Handwara town.Manan being a Phd schoar rose to fame after he joined Hizb ranks in January this year. He became very popular while after his killing, facebook in Kashmir was flooded with his photographs. Even unknown and rare photographs of Manan surfaced shortly after his killing.Facebook users shared extensively the funeral video of Manan Wani that was watched by millions of netizens.From past couple of days, facebook in India blocked multiple news pages and personal accounts of users.
Kashmir News Trust which has more than five lakh hits was blocked for 30 days for posting the funeral video of Dr Manan Wani. Global Kashmir another news page account was also blocked for posting a photograph of Wani. “Some news pages were even unpublished by facebook India. This is not the first time when facebook India has come down heavily on netizens in Kashmir Valley. In 2016, hundreds of fb pages were either unpublished or blocked for posting the photographs of Hizb poster boy Burhan Wani,” said a user.Another user said that the news pages in Kashmir with hits in lakhs are more vulnerable. “One thing is clear that social media in Kashmir is not free. You can’t depict the reality. How can a photograph of Manan Wani pose a threat? Why facebook in India is not allowing users in Kashmir to express themselves freely if it claims to be the greatest democracy of the globe.” (CNS)