



The official website of India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been blocked in Pakistan by Indian authorities, according to a party spokesman.





Internet users from Pakistan were barred from accessing the BJP website on Tuesday. However, the party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s portal was still reachable, the website’s administrators confirmed.“Error 1009 — the owner of this website (bjp.org) has banned your IP address (---) on the country or region you are accessing it from,” says the page.According to Indian media reports, the head of the BJP’s IT department, Arvind Gupta, said that the site had been blocked in Pakistan as a security measure.The move comes a day after the Hindu hardliner party alleged that veteran leader LK Advani’s website had been targeted by Pakistani hackers.Even though memories of the 2002 Gujarat riots loom when considering a BJP win, Islamabad is hopeful that the peace train will not be derailed if the Congress government is replaced by a Modi-led coalition.Despite the stern statements from the Modi camp, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif continues to stress the need for better ties with India; he says he believes in good relations with India regardless of which party is at the helm.Published in The Express Tribune, April 23, 2014.