In the days following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, India launched a campaign — not against suspects or extremist networks — but against voices.
Sixteen Pakistani YouTube channels were blocked. Shoaib Akhtar’s popular cricket show? Gone. Coke Studio’s music? Silenced across platforms. And anyone supporting cross-border collaborations? Labeled unpatriotic.
The government's justification? National security.
But the timing and the targets raised obvious questions. Why was a YouTube channel on sixes and wickets treated as a bigger threat than the attackers themselves?
Entertainment as Enemy What stood out most in the censorship list was what wasn’t on it: there were no extremist channels, no hate preachers, no terrorist propaganda. Instead, it was music, sports, and entertainment.
Cultural exchange has long been one of the few remaining bridges between India and Pakistan. When Coke Studio or cricket unites fans across borders, politics takes a back seat — and perhaps that’s exactly what some in power fear.
For the Indian establishment, unity across borders, even in joy, is inconvenient.
Inside India: Tightening the Grip Censorship wasn’t just directed outward. Inside India, things escalated as well.
Kashmiri journalists continued to face surveillance, harassment, and arrests under harsh security laws like UAPA. Students were penalized for watching the banned BBC documentary that questioned Prime Minister Modi’s record. Social media platforms were forced to remove content, and India’s IT Rules gave the government near-total authority over online speech.
Even international newsrooms weren’t spared. Tax raids followed negative coverage — a pattern already familiar to those watching India’s media environment shift over the past few years.
Pakistan: Calm, Strategic, and Humorous While Delhi banned platforms, Pakistan took a different route.
There were no official retaliations, no matching bans. Instead, Pakistani netizens leaned into satire. Videos mocking Indian threats, TikToks lampooning dramatic army statements, and meme storms flooded the internet.
Even Indian military figures — such as Lucky Bisht and Shivender Kanwar — became recurring punchlines in viral reels. The power of humor ended up being Pakistan’s most effective response.
At the diplomatic level, Pakistan kept it formal. When India threatened to revoke the Indus Waters Treaty, Islamabad filed a structured protest through the proper legal channels — no loud threats, just facts and treaties.
Water Wars That Never Were India’s “water weapon” idea made headlines for a moment, but quickly fizzled. Experts noted India lacked the infrastructure to store or redirect the rivers it threatened to block.
So, the declaration sounded bold but fell flat — a headline with no muscle behind it.
Even Indian analysts called it impractical. Pakistan’s calm, treaty-based response further neutralized the tension.
A Pattern Before Elections With elections looming in India, the sequence of events wasn’t surprising.
In recent years, stirring anti-Pakistan sentiment has been a go-to strategy. It shifts the conversation away from inflation, religious violence, or policy failures — and toward nationalism and security.
But the cost is high.
Each time a voice is banned, whether it’s a journalist or a musician, the world sees India step further away from its democratic image. Every unnecessary ban chips away at the credibility of a nation that once prided itself on free thought.
The Bigger Picture This wasn’t about one terror attack. It was about a broader mindset — that criticism is dangerous, that culture is suspicious, and that dissent must be controlled.
aayushmaan45•5h ago