Modi Administration Stifles Dissent After Pak-India Tensions: NYT

• Academic detained for ‘anti-war’ posts on Instagram.
• India restricts access to numerous critical social media accounts.
• Turkish firm loses license amid conflicts.

NEW DELHI: The Indian authorities have launched legal actions against academics, journalists, and private companies viewed as critical of the recent military actions against Pakistan, including the detention of a professor who openly condemned pro-war attitudes.

As reported by The New York Times, the Modi administration has a decade-long track record of responding to dissent with arrests, investigations, and travel bans.

This latest crackdown highlights the government’s sensitivity to political criticism following a four-day military clash that ended with external mediation.

The academic detained, Ali Khan Mahmudabad, initially supported his nation’s military during the conflict, much like millions of other Indians. However, he also expressed his disapproval of “those advocating for war without thought.”

India conducted military operations against Pakistan following the killing of 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists, on April 22 in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). On Instagram and Facebook, Mahmudabad remarked that while India sought vengeance for the deaths of the Hindu tourists, it should not overlook the ongoing discrimination faced by its minority Muslim population.

Three days after his first post, Mahmudabad, a political science professor at Ashoka University, wrote another message condemning “the mindless thirst for war,” despite a ceasefire being announced the night before.

On Sunday at 6:30 AM, Mahmudabad, 42, was taken into custody at his home in Delhi on charges that included threatening India’s sovereignty. According to his attorney, Mohammed Nizamuddin Pasha, a formal complaint had been filed against him the previous evening by a resident of Haryana, the state adjacent to where Ashoka University is located.

Prime Minister Modi’s party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, controls Haryana. Mahmudabad, whose legal name is Mohammad Ali Ahmad Khan, faces a potential prison sentence ranging from three years to life.

Pasha indicated that the complaint contained inaccuracies, mixing up posts from Instagram and Facebook with those from X (formerly Twitter). He also noted that the police claimed they needed to detain his client for seven days “to retrieve his laptop from his hometown.” Pasha countered that most social media posts are made from mobile devices, not laptops.

As the Indian government tightens restrictions on commentary regarding the conflict with Pakistan, many citizens find themselves under pressure.

This past week, the social media platform X reported that the Modi administration requested the suspension of over 8,000 accounts based in India. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry defended the action by stating it was blocking content deemed harmful to India’s sovereignty and integrity.

On Sunday, Nitasha Kaul, a British Indian scholar based in London, announced that Indian authorities had banned her from returning home, where her mother still resides.

Kaul’s research focuses on themes of feminism, nationalism, and Kashmir. The official notice she received claimed she engaged in “anti-India activities motivated by malice and a complete disregard for facts or history.”

“There’s a correlation between the situation in India and how academics abroad are impacted,” Kaul stated in a phone interview. “When I write about subjects like Islamophobia in India, it irritates them. They make examples of individuals like me to send a clear message: if you speak out, there will be consequences.”

Last week, tax authorities arrested the owner of Gujarat Samachar, a newspaper that has critically chronicled Modi’s career for over two decades.

Rahul Gandhi, the opposition leader in Parliament, stated on X that the arrest is part of a “conspiracy to silence democracy.”

The newspaper’s account on X was among those restricted by the Indian government during the hostilities.

Furthermore, businesses perceived to be affiliated with Modi’s critics are facing repercussions.

One such example is Celebi Airport Services, a private company based in Istanbul involved in airport operations in India. Its license was revoked, justified on national security grounds, following Turkey’s support of Pakistan during the recent conflicts.

While Modi’s administration has a history of punishing dissenters, some analysts noticed a slight relaxation of repression since he lost his parliamentary majority in the last election.

According to Reporters Without Borders, an international watchdog, India now ranks 151st out of 180 countries in terms of press freedom, an improvement from last year’s ranking of 159.