Social media platform Instagram has restricted access in India to the accounts of several Pakistani actors, including Mahira Khan and Hania Aamir, along with Olympic medallist Arshad Nadeem, in compliance with a “legal request”.

This comes amid escalating tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad after the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22.

When accessed from India, Instagram displays the message: “Account not available in India. This is because we complied with a legal request to restrict this content.”

Apart from Khan and Aamir, the accounts of actors such as Ali Zafar, Sanam Saeed, Bilal Abbas, Iqra Aziz, Imran Abbas and Sajal Aly could also not be accessed in India.

However, the accounts of a few Pakistani actors, including Fawad Khan and Wahaj Ali, as well as singers such as Atif Aslam and Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, remained visible in India.

Nadeem, who had won gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics in javelin, had recently been invited by Indian athlete Neeraj Chopra to participate in the inaugural NC Classic javelin event on May 24 in Bengaluru.

However, the Pakistani javelin thrower declined the invitation, citing prior commitments.

Chopra had been criticised on social media after the Pahalgam terror attack for inviting Nadeem to the event. In response, the Indian javelin thrower said that Nadeem’s presence in the competition was “completely out of the question” in light of the attack.

The terror attack at Baisaran near the town of Pahalgam on April 22 left 26 persons dead and 17 injured. The terrorists targeted tourists after asking their names to ascertain their religion, the police said. All but three of those killed were Hindu.

In the aftermath of the attack, the Centre on April 24 announced that the visas of Pakistani citizens in India would stand revoked from Sunday and that they had to leave the country before then. India also suspended visa services to Pakistani citizens with immediate effect.

A day after the attack, India also suspended the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 amid diplomatic tensions. India said that the treaty would remain in abeyance until Pakistan “credibly and irrevocably” stopped its support for cross-border terrorism.

On Sunday, the Indian government banned 16 Pakistani YouTube channels for allegedly disseminating false and provocative content in the backdrop of the attack.

The channels included those of news organisations such as Dawn News, Samaa TV, Ary News and Geo News. The 16 channels have 63.08 million followers put together.