In a confusing digital episode, the Instagram and X accounts of several Pakistani celebrities were once again blocked in India on Thursday, just a day after briefly becoming accessible. Prominent figures such as Hania Aamir, Mahira Khan, Shahid Afridi, Mawra Hocane, and Fawad Khan found their profiles geoblocked once again for Indian users.
The sudden reappearance of these accounts on Wednesday had sparked speculation about a potential rollback of the ban imposed after rising Indo-Pak tensions. However, government sources clarified that the visibility was the result of a technical glitch. “If you can see some accounts either on X, YouTube or Meta, they will be inaccessible in a few hours. Some technical glitch led to the unblocking. Rectified now,” a source told IndiaToday.in.
Currently, attempts to access these profiles on Instagram trigger a message stating: “Account not available in India. This is because we complied with a legal request to restrict this content.”
On July 2, several Pakistani YouTube channels and Instagram handles, including those of celebrities like Saba Qamar, Ahad Raza Mir, Yumna Zaidi, and Danish Taimoor, had briefly resurfaced. Major entertainment channels such as Hum TV, ARY Digital, and Har Pal Geo also became accessible again, prompting a flurry of online discussions.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has not released any official clarification regarding the sequence of events. The original restrictions had been imposed after India’s Operation Sindoor, a military campaign aimed at neutralizing terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The move followed sharp criticism from several Pakistani public figures, which in turn triggered widespread demand for their content to be blocked in India.
The swift reblocking of these accounts underscores the sensitivity of cross-border digital interactions amid ongoing geopolitical tensions.
