Facebook blocked the official page of a Kashmiri weekly and later deleted a post, featuring magazine’s cover showing Burhan Wani and claimed the page was not “following community standards”, according to Hindustan Times.
Kashmir Ink’s magazine cover featured a sketch of Burhan Wani with the headline, “Kashmir: A year after Burhan’s death”.
“The issue, as is evident from the cover, talks about the current situation in Kashmir after a year of an incident which rattled the valley. And whose ripples refuse to ebb still,” said political cartoonist Suhail H Naqshbandi, who drew Wani’s sketch.
He remarked that “some ignoramus folks” reported the post to Facebook authorities who decided to censor it.
A message from Facebook said the temporary block will last for 24 hours, and “you won’t be able to post on Facebook until it’s finished”.
Reacting to this, Executive Editor of Kashmir Ink Majid Maqbool said “This is completely unjustified”.
He also said that “we had Burhan Wani on our front cover earlier in the year as well, but the official Facebook page was not blocked nor was the cover image removed”.
“Our official page should be restored soon so that our online readers are able to see and access the latest issue,” he demanded.
The unrest in Kashmir since Wani’s killing on July 8 last year has left more than 100 dead and thousands injured, many blinded by pellets.
This is not the first time Facebook has removed posts which were supposedly sympathetic to Kashmiri leaders.
Last year, many users including scholars raised their voices when their posts related to Wani were removed from Facebook.
Some even complained that their profiles were blocked after they uploaded Wani’s photo as their profile picture.
