By TCN News,
Washington DC: The Association Of Indian Muslims Of America (AIM) has protested against the blocking of selected websites and URLs by the Indian Government in response to turmoil in the northeastern state of Assam, and termed it as a violation of the fundamental freedom of expression guaranteed by the Indian Constitution.
“It can be understood if the URLs/ websites of extremist religious or ethnic organizations are blocked, since they disseminate inflammatory material that is likely to endanger peace in the county. But this ban is a case of over-reaction as it covers several mainstream organizations that are middle- of-the-road and that only provide legitimate information about happenings in the country,” AIM said in a statement.
“This ban on URLs/websites of selected mainstream organizations, eg TwoCircles, Dalitistan, Daily Telegraph, Frontline, Times of India, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter, using the provisions of Section 69 A of the Indian Internet Act, is a violation of the fundamental freedom of expression guaranteed by the Indian Constitution. This action of the Government of India specifically violates Articles 19 and 21 of the Indian Constitution. For instance the Two Circles.net website has an years’ long record of objective reporting of events in India without any religious or ethnic slant or hype. Yet some of its URLs have been blocked,” AIM further said.
Today about 100 million people in India are on-line and visit these websites on almost a daily basis to learn about events in India. Since becoming free from colonial rule in 1947, India has prided itself on its democratic practices and for providing freedom of expression to its citizens.
“Thus the Association of Indian Muslims of America (AIM), an NGO of Indian-American Muslims, protests against this undemocratic action of the Government of India and appeals to it to remove the said restrictions as early as possible. We also support the petition on this subject initiated by the Americans For Freedom on Religious Expression, that makes a similar protest and appeal to the Indian Government.”