North Eastern Exodus 2012

Pakistani miscreants behind the rumours that triggered exodus among northeasterners?

Government Blocks 245 web Pages for Inflammatory Content hosting of Provocative and Harmful Content Being Monitored Continuously

A lot of inflammatory and harmful content/information has been found to be appearing on the social networking sites hosted outside the country. Bulk of the content/information, which contained images and videos mostly morphed, aimed at targeting people of North East. Most of the content were taken from events unrelated to the incident occurred in Assam. Hosting of such morphed image/video led to a lot of inciting comments from users on the blogs hosting such morphed images/videos and circulation of hate SMSes. It disturbed the peace and harmony among the communities leading to public disorder and exodus of North Eastern people from some parts of the country.

Considering the sensitivity and after effects of such inflammatory and harmful content hosted on the social networking sites, the Department of Electronics & Information Technology had issued an advisory on 17th August 2012 to all the intermediaries including national and international social networking sites, advising them to take necessary action to disable such inflammatory and hateful content hosted on their websites on priority basis. The Department of Electronics & Information Technology also called a meeting of the representatives of international social networking sites based in India and advised them to take all possible action to disable such content immediately.

Such inflammatory and harmful content continued to appear on the social networking sites despite the advisory and request made by the Department of Electronics & Information Technology. The circulation of hate messages and availability of inflammatory and harmful content led to disturbance of peace and harmony at several places in the country causing threat to life and national security. The web pages hosting such content inciting violence and creating law & order problem were identified. Keeping in view the sensitivity and need for restoring peace, harmony and public order, the Government on recommendation of Ministry of Home Affairs issued orders under section 69A of the Information Technology Act 2000 directing intermediaries including international social networking sites to block 76 web pages on 18.08.2012, 80 web pages on 19.8.2012 and 89 web pages on 20.8.2012. These intermediaries and international social networking sites were also requested to provide registration details and access logs of the person who uploaded such content. The initial response from international social networking sites indicates that such content have been hosted from outside the country and to a large extent from a neighboring country (Pakistan). An intermediary social networking site has responded that the up-loaders of the inflammatory and hateful content are outside the jurisdiction of the country, thereby implying that they are not obliged to take any constructive step to deal with it. The proxy servers and Virtual Private Network (VPN) services which hide the user identity operating from no. of countries appear to have been used for uploading the content. The agencies are continuously monitoring hosting of such inflammatory and harmful content.

The Department of Electronics & Information Technology has been working with international social networking sites on this issue. However, a lot more and quicker action is expected from them to address such a sensitive issue which concern restoring peace, harmony, public order and national security.

Home Minister Expresses Concern on Social Media Networking Sites being Misused by Elements Based in Pakistan

Union Home Minister Shri Sushil Kumar Shinde has expressed concern to his Pakistani counterpart over the issue of social media-networking sites being misused by elements based in Pakistan to circulate false pictures and stories so as to whip up communal sentiments in India and has sought Pakistan’s full cooperation in checking and neutralizing such elements. Shri Shinde expressed these views when Mr. Rehman Malik, Interior Minister of Pakistan spoke to him on 19.12.2012 over telephone. This was the first direct contact between the two Ministers.

Shri Shinde thanked Mr. Malik and conveyed his Eid wishes to him and the people of Pakistan. The Union Home Minister expressed the hope that the occasion would herald an improvement in Indo-Pak relations.

The Interior Minister of Pakistan briefly spoke of the pending issues between the two Ministries and re-iterated his commitment to bring the masterminds and perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attack to justice. He assured full mutual cooperation in this matter. Mr. Rehman Malik also invited Shri Shinde to visit Pakistan to sign the revised Visa agreement which has now been agreed to by both sides.

Both concluded the discussion by agreeing to continue the mutual cooperation and to work towards rooting out terrorism in all its form and manifestation.

Rumours trigger exodus among north-east Indian residents

In what appeared to be a case of panic being reported among sections of residents from the Northeast residing in Bangalore, over 6,000 people boarded trains headed for Guwahati here on 15.08.2012. Anonymous cellphone messages spreading rumours of killings and rape of northeast residents, or containing warnings of dire consequence for those staying beyond August 20 continued.

This even as Director-General and Inspector-General of Police L.R. Pachau appealed to citizens not to panic, as the rumours about alleged violence against Northeast residents here was “unfounded and baseless”. Sources in SWR told The Hindu that in the wake of huge demand for tickets, two special trains, apart from the one regular one, had been announced.

The exodus of panic-stricken northeastern residents from here continued on 16.08.2012 with 7,500 people leaving for home following rumours of violence targeting them. According to officials, at least 7,500 passengers took three special trains to Guwahati, apart from the regular Bangalore-Guwahati Express.

Railway authorities stopped issuing tickets at 7.15 p.m. since they could not accommodate any more. On 15.08.2012 night, 6,900 passengers travelled in two special trains and the Guwahati Express.

Driven by rumours, security agencies, BPOs, restaurants and hotels, beauty parlours, colleges and schools, where people from the northeast work and study in substantial numbers, were deserted. This despite the Karnataka government, the police, concerned citizens and representatives from Muslims appealing for calm and trying to assuage the fears of the migrants. Representatives of the mohalla and masjid-level committees were trying to douse the tension.

The State government and the police went into damage control mode announcing confidence-building measures. Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, after chairing a meeting with top officials and bureaucrats and representatives of the associations of the northeastern people, announced setting up of a 24-hour helpline.

“Karnataka is the safest place for you to live in the country,” he said, pointing out that no major incident of violence against the people from the northeast had been reported in the State so far.

Neelasandra, Adugodi and Suduguntapalya in southeast Bangalore, where the threat perceptions were high, wore a deserted look. Police were seen patrolling the streets. These lower income and thickly populated areas are home to large numbers of working class Muslims and the northeastern people.

Most leading colleges, which have a large number of northeastern students, assured their safety at the campus meetings.

Apart from Karnataka, mass exodus of north eastern residents was noticed in Chennai, Pune and Hyderabad.

8000 people arrive at Guwahati

Four more special trains, three from Bangalore and one from Howrah, arrived at the Guwahati railway station on 20.08.2012, bringing about 8000 more people fleeing from the south, even as Id celebration in the State including the violence-hit districts of Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Chirang passed off peacefully.