An official from the Union Ministry for Information and Broadcasting (I&B) on Sunday asked cable operators from the Valley to strictly adhere to the Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act, 1995.
According to India's Wire news website, Vikram Sahay, the joint secretary-level official in the ministry arrived in the summer capital Srinagar this afternoon and held a two-hour-long meeting with a group of cable operators.
The Wire has reported that Sahay asked the operators not to air channels from Muslim countries, such as Iran, Malaysia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan. “The official told us, in categorical terms, that all the channels from Iran, Turkey, Malaysia, and Pakistan should be blocked,” said an operator who attended the meeting.
According to the operator, the ministry official read out the Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act, 1995 to the operators and asked them to adhere to it strictly.
Back in August, the Indian government scrapped the special autonomy status for the disputed region of Kashmir and as part of attempts to fully integrate the Muslim-majority region with the rest of the country.
The controversial move came after large parts of the Muslim-majority territory was placed under lockdown, with mobile networks, internet services, and telephone landline services being cut.
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