Pakistan Websites Blamed for Northeast Exodus

Bangalore: Blame games have become part of the politics, the recent being India blaming Pakistan social media for spreading rumors that had caused thousands of northeast people from India to panic and flee from the country, reports The Washington Post.

Some bulk of rumors sourced from Pakistan had triggered panic among people from northeast India in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. “A total of 76 websites were identified where morphed images were uploaded and bulk of these images were uploaded from Pakistan,” said Union Home Minister, R K Singh. The images of atrocities allegedly inflicted upon Muslims had sparked tensions, leading to attacks in western and southern cities on people from northeast.

Three weeks of clashes in remote Assam between the members of the Bodo tribal community and Muslims had claimed at least 80 lives and had displaced more than 400,000 people. Thousands of people from the northeast had fled after hate messages were spread through mobile phones and on social media sites.