New Delhi: Twitter Friday suspended the official account of the Indian Army’s 15 Corps, but restored it immediately after it was reported in the media. Also known as the Chinar Corps, it oversees counter-terrorism operations in the Kashmir Valley and at the Line of Control (LoC).
The suspension had come as a big surprise to the authorities in Kashmir as well as in Delhi.
A senior official in the Army had told ThePrint that Twitter was immediately contacted when the suspension was noticed. Within an hour of media reports about the suspension, Twitter restored the handle and is now adding back the followers.
However, it remained unclear why the account, which had 40,300 followers at the time of suspension, was taken off Twitter. According to sources, when Twitter was contacted about the account, it said the Chinar Corps handle @ChinarcorpsIA was suspended by “mistake” amid an exercise targeting 1.8 million accounts.
ThePrint reached Twitter India through phone calls and messages but received no response until the time of publishing this report.
Sources said there had been a well-planned and coordinated attack against handles run by Indian security forces with thousands of users, usually owing allegiance to Pakistan military’s propaganda wing ISPR and terror sympathisers, at times reporting the accounts to social media companies.
A weapon against fake news
The Chinar Corps of the Indian Army is at the frontline of fighting Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Its area of operation includes Kashmir and the LoC.
The handle is a source of official information about various operations undertaken in Kashmir.
A few years ago, the Indian Army had asked all important corps to have their own social media handles to facilitate easier communication of information to the public.
Each of these handles focuses only on their respective area of operations, and often helps dispel rumours and counter propaganda.
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This report has been updated to reflect the reactivation of the Twitter account