Twitter accounts of Baloch political parties and leaders suspended

Twitter, on Thursday night suspended accounts of Baloch political parties and prominent political leaders.

Some of the Twitter handles that had to face the heat include @BNMovement_, belonging to Balochistan's largest peaceful political mass party which supports the idea of independent Balochistan, its chairman's account @ChairmanKhalil, the Twitter account of its alliance partner and peaceful student party Baloch Students Organisation Azad BSO-A @BalochNatFront and the founder of BSO-A Dr. Nizar @DrAllahNizar among others.

The action comes days after Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) issued a stern warning to ban Twitter in the country if the micro-blogging website fails to block objectionable content. The term 'objectionable content' was however not explicitly defined in the warning.

The exact number of the partially restricted or fully suspended cannot be ascertained at the moment though many Baloch activists, leaders and organisations have faced the suppression.

The sudden suspension of prominent Baloch social media accounts also resulted in an uproar among many Twitter users. Many Twitter users have also termed it as an unjustifiable act to suppress the freedom of speech.

"Media is blackout in #Balochistan by the Pakistani military. Social media is the only tool to highlight war crimes and human rights violations from the affected areas, but it's sad to see that @Twitter is following the path of Pakistan and suppressing the voice of Baloch nation", tweeted Niaz Zehri (@Niaz_Zehri), a former leader of BSO-A.