Twitter Shows Gilgit Baltistan As Part Of India, Shocks Pakistan

In a major gaffe, Twitter has reportedly blocked access to the Government of Pakistan's official Twitter account in Gilgit-Baltistan and also changed the region's location to Indian territory.

When users tried to access the account, their tweets were marked as originating from India's Kashmir.

Some users even complained about seeing a message which said the account had been withheld in India due to a legal demand.

Following the development, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said that the matter had been thoroughly investigated and that no such problem regarding Twitter blocking access to Pakistan's official account in Gilgit Baltistan and changing the region's location to parts of India was found.

"Reference news circulating on social media and certain sections of news media that Twitter has blocked access to the Government of Pakistan's official account in Gilgit-Baltistan and changed the region's location to parts of India, PTA would like to clarify that the matter has been thoroughly investigated and no such problem has been found, as being circulated in the media," PTA statement read.

"After detailed on-ground testing, it appears that any sporadic issues encountered are limited to very few iOS devices, affecting a small number of users. These incidents are not significant and do not reflect a widespread problem," it added.

Taking to Twitter Yasir Hussain posted "I am in Gilgit Baltistan and Twitter can't show tweets from Government of Pakistan, saying that account has been withheld in India in response to a legal demand! Hello Twitter Support, I'm in Pakistan why can't I see tweets from various accounts I follow including the one mentioned?."

Another Twitter user from the region said that he could not add the location he wanted.

"The only option we are getting is Jammu and Kashmir," Karim Shah Nizari told Dawn.

Notably, the Pakistan government's official account has been banned in India since March 2023.