NEW YORK: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has asked India to immediately revoke a one-month ban on access to social media services in Occupied Kashmir where Indian security forces are attempting to crush a mass uprising against New Delhi’s rule.

India has blocked users’ access to 22 social networking platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and YouTube.

Steven Butler, Asia Programme coordinator at CPJ, said the sweeping censorship of social media under the pretext of maintaining peace and order will bring neither peace nor order.

“Such broad censorship clearly violates the democratic ideals and human rights India purports to uphold,” he said.

Hilal Mir, Editor of the independent newspaper ‘The Kashmir Reader’ told CPJ in a note that the censorship of social media was instituted because India “has completely lost control” in the valley.

“The order to block access to social media would make it more difficult for journalists in the region to do their jobs, as they regularly use social media and platforms like WhatsApp to communicate and to report,” he stated in the note.