By Muslim Mirror Staff
New Delhi: Twitter has suspended the account of Asif Khan, an outspoken activist known for highlighting anti-Muslim activities, mob lynching incidents etc. The action has sparked widespread criticism and accusation of suppressing voices critical of right-wing forces in India.
The microblogging site suspended Khan’s account while citing violation of ‘ban evasion’ by him. Khan expressed his shock over the move and called it a ”bizarre” act. ”I don’t understand what kind of ban I tried to evade,” he added.
His last tweet before the suspension was about the arrest of Umar Gautam, a Muslim preacher who has been arrested by Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad over allegations of forced conversions. “If Maulana Umar Gautam was preaching Islam and propagating Islam then he was exercising his constitutional rights. Do you think a person can convert 1000+ people into Islam by force or by bribe in a country with 80% Hindu population?” Asif asked in a tweet with a solidarity hashtag #StandwithUmarGautam which briefly trended in some circles on Twitter.
Khan, who has more than 80,000 followers on his Twitter handle, raised the apprehension that his account may have been suspended by mistake. ”I have filed an appeal , now I am waiting for their response, I hope my account will be reinstated,” he said while speaking to Maktoob Media.
RTI activist Saket Gokhale said the suspension of the account is “a matter of great shock and concern”.
“Asif is a very important voice who has consistently been documenting communal atrocities against minorities and has also been a frequent target of BJP. His account MUST be restored,” read Gokhale’s tweet.
It seems Twitter is trying to do a balancing act of appeasing the Right Wing as well as being seen as a crusader against hate speech. Hope it does proper scrutiny of its actions that belie logic. Asif’s fight is for the voiceless and marginalized members of various minority religious groups who are being oppressed since the RW pro-Hindutva government came to power with the help of a fascist organization called the RSS.
Some Hindutva group keeps on reporting his posts resulting suspension. Twitter should analyze before such action on a humble personality