Olympic gold medallist javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem’s Instagram account has been blocked in India following a legal request reportedly linked to the April 22 incident in Pahalgam — Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
Indian users attempting to access the Pakistani athlete’s Instagram profile are met with a message stating: “Account not available in India. This is because we complied with a legal request to restrict this content.”
Nadeem, a celebrated sports figure in both Pakistan and the region, boasts a significant fan base across borders. The restriction comes amid a broader crackdown by Indian authorities targeting prominent Pakistani social media accounts in the aftermath of the Kashmir attack that left multiple security personnel dead.
Officials in India have not publicly disclosed the specific reasons behind the block, but it is believed to be part of heightened digital monitoring and content control in sensitive cross-border contexts.
Instagram, owned by Meta, typically complies with country-specific legal requests that are deemed consistent with local laws and regulations.
Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) chief Farooq Abdullah has attributed the recent terrorist attack in Pahalgam to significant lapses in security and intelligence. He said the incident indicates that the security apparatus failed to prevent the violence despite increased vigilance in the region.
