The Instagram accounts of Pakistani actor Fawad Khan and singers Atif Aslam and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan were blocked in India on Friday. This comes just a day after accounts of Hania Aamir, Mahira Khan and Ali Zafar were blocked. The development comes amidst growing tension between India and Pakistan after 26 people were killed in a terror attack in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir.

(Also read: Instagram account of several Pak actors, including Hania Aamir and Mahira Khan, blocked in India)

Other artists whose accounts have been withheld are Sanam Saeed, Bilal Abbas, Iqra Aziz, Imran Abbas and Sajal Aly.

Fawad Khan's account blocked

When you click on Fawad, Atif and Rahat's accounts, Instagram says, “Account not available in India. This is because we complied with a legal request to restrict this content.”

This comes after the Indian government's move 3 days ago to ban 16 Pakistani YouTube channels, including prominent media outlets like Dawn News, Samaa TV, ARY News, and Geo News. The channels were banned for airing provocative and communally sensitive content, false and misleading narratives and misinformation against India.

The release of Fawad's upcoming film Abir Gulaal, which also stars Vaani Kapoor, has also been stalled for now. "The movie Abir Gulaal, starring Pakistani actor Fawad Khan, will not be allowed to release in India," sources told PTI. The film was supposed to release on May 9.

About the Pahalgam attack

On April 22, a group of heavily armed terrorists emerged from the woods and targeted tourists on the Baisaran grassland near Pahalgam. 26 people, 25 of them tourists, were killed in the attack. The incident was reminiscent of the heyday of terrorism in the 1990s and 2000s and the worst to rock the country since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

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