The India and Pakistan context
On February 14, 2019, an allegedly Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e- Mohammad took responsibility' for the suicide attack on Indian security' forces in
Pulwama district (BBC News 2019a) in Indian-held Jammu and Kashmir region. In the aftermath of this attack, conflict over Kashmir escalated swiftly between India and Pakistan when the Indian air force claimed the retaliation strikes on the madrassa of Jaish-e-Mohammad in Balakot town in Mansehra district in Kliyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. This became a matter of pride for the armies of India and Pakistan. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s air force countered another intrusion from Indian fighter jets near the Line of Control (border line between Indian and Pakistan) shot down a fighter plane and caught an injured Indian pilot. International commercial flights cancelled their operations from both countries which led to a disruption in physical contact of their citizens with the international community (Ilyas 2019).
The hostile environment between both South Asian nuclear neighbours was in the process of normalisation when, in August 2019, the Indian parliament scrapped Article 370 from the Indian constitution (Aljazeera 2019b). The Article 370 safeguarded special rights for the Kashmiri Muslim-majority region, including the right to frame its own constitution and autonomy to formulate and implement laws on all matters except defense, communications and foreign affairs. The dissolution of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir gave exclusive powers to the Central government in Delhi to legislate about the region that has been a disputed territory between India and Pakistan since the partition of former British India in 1947 into India and Pakistan (including Bangladesh). This action of the Indian government infuriated Pakistani authorities. After these incidents, tensions began to re-escalate on the government level between both countries. Military mobilisation and skirmishes across the Line of Control increased—a dangerous sign for a direct war. Even on August 16, a ban was put on the sale of Indian movies and advertisements for India-made products on television channels in Pakistan, which could lead to a decrease in people-to-people contact on both sides (Dawn News 2019a).
Amidst increasing strained relations between arch-rival neighbours in South Asia, social media has been an important tool, other than the mainstream electronic and print media, to spread fake online news, war instigation and hate speech between people of both the countries. For instance, on July 4, 2019, a hashtag #ArrestAntiPakjournalists became the top Twitter trend in Pakistan, deepening apprehension over a shrinking civic space for dissent in the country. Shahzad Ahmad, an activist of digital rights, is quoted in a newspaper as describing social media as “dangerous” and used to spread false information and disrespect for others (Dawn News 2019b).
Although social media has become an emerging instrument for conflict escalation through fake information about imminent war and violence, there are people in both countries who are striving for peaceful relations between nuclear neighbours using the same online forum (Khan 2019).
