Pakistan's Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem's Instagram handle blocked in India on ‘legal request’, X account accessible

Pakistan's Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem's Instagram handle has been blocked in India owing to a legal request. “Account not available in India. This is because we complied with a legal request to restrict this content," read a message when trying to access Nadeem's Instagram account, which goes by the name of @arshadnadeem29.

When clicked on why Nadeem's account has been blocked, it said, "We received a legal request to restrict this content. We reviewed it against our policies and conducted a legal and human rights assessment. After the review, we restricted access to the content in the location where it goes against local law.

“You can learn more about content restrictions in our Transparency Center.” However, his X (formerly Twitter) is still accessible in India. Nadeem rose to prominence when he tipped Neeraj Chopra in the men's javelin final at Paris Olympics to win gold with a 92.97m throw.

The development comes in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 where 26 innocent tourists were killed. Post the incident, the Indian government has blocked several social media accounts from Pakistan which has a considerable reach in India.

Nadeem also became the latest Pakistani sportsperson, whose social media accounts were blocked in India. Earlier, the YouTube channels of former Pakistan cricketers Shoaib Akhtar and Basit Ali were also banned in India.

“This content is currently unavailable in this country because of an order from the government related to national security or public order. For more details about government removal requests, please visit the Google Transparency Report (transparencyreport.google.com),” read a message when tried to access YouTube channels of Ali and Akhtar.

Nadeem rejects invitation to NC Classic

Earlier, Nadeem rejected Neeraj Chopra's invitation to be a part of the inaugural Neeraj Chopra Classic, a one-day javelin event, to be held in Bengaluru on May 24, citing preparations for Asian Athletics Championships in Korea in the same month.

“The NC Classic event is from May 24, whereas I am scheduled to leave for Korea on May 22 for the Asian Athletics Championships. I have been training hard for the Asian Championship, which will be held in Gumi from May 27 to 31. I am grateful to Chopra for inviting me to the event,” Nadeem was quoted as saying to PTI.