The Facebook and Twitter accounts of the Pakistan Defence Forum, an unofficial forum dedicated to Pakistan’s armed forces, were suspended on Saturday for posting allegedly fake news about Delhi University student carrying a poster.
“The account of @defencepk has been suspended by Twitter for posting my unverified and morphed pictures,” DU student Kawalpreet Kaur said on Saturday. “Grateful to all who reported it in large numbers. The message of the picture shouldn’t be lost in these dark times. No nation wants lynchings and killings. Only bigots want hate.”
The picture in question shows Kaur holding up a poster saying, “I am a citizen of India and I stand with secular values of our Constitution. I will write against communal mob lynching of Muslims in our country,” in reference to the incidents of attacks on Muslim men in several parts of the country for allegedly transporting cows.
However, the morphed picture allegedly posted by the Pakistan Defence Forum shows Kaur holding a poster stating, “I am an Indian but I hate India, because India is a communal entity that has occupied nations like Nagas, Kashmiris, Manipuris, Hyderabad Junagadh, Sikkim, Mizoram, Goa.” Kaur also said that she had complained to the cyber cell about the picture several times, but to no avail.
Jawaharlal Nehru University student and activist Shehla Rashid alleged that Kaur’s morphed picture had been circulated by the Bharatiya Janata Party IT cell before it was used by the Pakistan Defence Forum. She demanded that the forum take the picture down immediately. Later, Twitter suspended the account.
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