Former Pakistani captain Shahid Afridi’s rant against India in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terrorist attacks on April 22 has earned his YouTube channel a ban in India. This comes after the Indian government issued orders to YouTube to ban multiple Pakistani accounts.
At the same time, Arshad Nadeem’s Instagram account has been suspended in India. Pakistan’s Nadeem won the 2024 Paris Olympics gold in the javelin throw.
Afridi has been one of the most outspoken critics of India following the terrorist attack in Jammu & Kashmir on April 22. He accused India of shifting blame to Pakistan and criticized the Indian Army for failing to safeguard its nationals.
“Even if a cracker bursts in India, they blame it on Pakistan. You have an 8 lakh-strong army in Kashmir, yet this happened. This means you are useless, not being able to provide security to people.“ It’s surprising that within an hour of the attack, their media turned into Bollywood. For God’s sake, don’t make everything Bollywood. I was astonished that I was enjoying the way they were talking.
I was saying, Look at their thinking, and they call themselves educated. Two cricketers have played so much cricket for India. They have been ambassadors and top cricketers, yet they directly blame Pakistan,” Afridi said on Pakistani news channel Samaa TV.
Shahid Afridi's YouTube channel is the latest Pakistani account to be banned in India, following former cricketers Shoaib Akhtar and Basit Ali's channels.
Content creators on YouTube are compensated based on the number of views their videos receive. The former Pakistani cricketers ran thriving YouTube channels in India, resulting in comfortable earnings.
Afridi's YouTube account was deleted in India on Wednesday. The YouTube statement on his account states that it was suspended "due to a government order relating to national security or public order."
Shahid Afridi’s Instagram account is somehow still visible in India at the time of writing this piece. However, Instagram accounts of several Pakistani celebs have been blocked in India. This includes stars like Mahira Khan, Ali Zafar, Ayeza Khan, Sajal Ali, Sanam Saeed, Maya Ali, and Iqra Aziz Hussain.
Prominent actor Fawad Khan’s Instagram appears to be safe for now. The accounts of Saba Qamar Zaman, Yumna Zaidi, Mehwish Hayat, and Urwa Hocane were also accessible at the time of publishing.
Drama channels such as Hum TV and ARY Digital have also been removed, including from Indian YouTube. Earlier this week, India also blocked 16 Pakistani YouTube channels with a combined 63 million subscribers.
These included major outlets like Dawn, Geo News, Bol, and Samaa, as well as individual voices like Asma Shirazi, Umar Cheema, and The Pakistan Experience.
(First Cricket inputs)
