India asks Pakistan to crackdown on those spreading panic

NEW DELHI: India today asked Pakistan to crackdown on elements based in that country who were using social media networking sites to whip up communal sentiments and create scare among people of northeastern region living across India.

During a telephonic conversation with his counterpart Rehman Malik, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde expressed concern over the issue of social media-networking sites being misused by elements based in Pakistan to circulate false pictures and stories so as to whip up communal sentiments in India.

In the first direct contact between the two Ministers, Shinde sought Pakistan's cooperation in checking and neutralising such elements.

Yesterday, Union Home Secretary R K Singh had said that bulk of the rumours that triggered panic among people of Northeastern states in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra were sourced from Pakistan.

"A total of 76 websites were identified where morphed images were uploaded and bulk of these were uploaded in Pakistan, Singh had said.

Malik, who telephoned Shinde to convey Eid greetings, briefly spoke of the pending issues between the Home and Interior Ministries of the two countries and reiterated his commitment to bring the masterminds and perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attack to justice, a Home Ministry spokesperson said.