The Pakistani government has shut down Al Jazeera’s website across Pakistan over its coverage of public boycott in Kashmir elections.
The Qatari broadcaster’s English website has been inaccessible across Pakistan after the Pakistani Ministry of Information declared Al Jazeera’s coverage of the elections in Kashmir as ‘yellow journalism’.
Journalist Benazir Shah posted a picture on X that read: ‘This website is not accessible.’ According to Benazir Shah, the message appeared when she tried to open the Al Jazeera English website.
Another Pakistani journalist, Aamir Zia, also asked on the social media platform X: ‘Has Al Jazeera’s website been shut down in Pakistan? I am unable to access it.’
Al Jazeera had reported that residents of the city of Muzaffarabad in Pakistani-administered Kashmir have boycotted the elections due to a strike. The report also claimed that several people were killed in Rawalakot and included the opinions of several people who said they had boycotted the voting.
Reacting to this, Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting called Al Jazeera’s reporting “yellow journalism”.
In a statement issued on social media platform X yesterday, the ministry said: “We have taken notice of the one-sided reporting by Al Jazeera from a few specific polling stations in Muzaffarabad today.”
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting alleged that Al Jazeera had tried to misrepresent the elections and voting process in Pakistan-administered Kashmir through “pre-arranged statements by specific individuals”.
The statement on X added: “This type of yellow journalism only validates the agenda of external elements with vested interests who are trying to damage the credibility of this electoral process.”
Al Jazeera has not yet issued a statement on this.
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