New Delhi: The government is cracking down on over 250 websites and blogs that it has identified as having participated in the online campaign of hatred against Indians from the North-East, and it might seek the help of countries like the US and Saudi Arabia to force these offline.
Law Minister Salman Khurshid has promised that the government will not take any irrational step to curb freedom of expression, but says the crackdown is needed to prevent any further damage.
Mr Khurshid said, “I do believe that the Home Minister is working 24×7 to ensure that he is able to intercept and prevent any such damaging exercise, but over the months there has been little diversion caused by people who have raised issues of liberty, freedom of expression, interference with social media. There is no intention by the government to do anything which would be considered unreasonable, irrational or excessive.”
The Centre has said nearly 40 per cent of the doctored and incendiary online images originated in Pakistan (Agencies)