Zeenews Bureau

New Delhi: As the exodus of North-East people continues from certain states, Home Secretary RK Singh on Saturday said the bulk of the rumours against them that triggered panic were originated from Pakistan.

The Home Secretary further said the government will take up the matter with Pakistan, though Islamabad will deny it.

Addressing a press conference here, the Home Secretary said: “Morphed pictures, false messages were used to provocate people and trigger panic”.

"Photos of people who had died in cyclones etc were circulated as victims of violence in Myanmar and Bodoland", Singh said while talking to reporters.

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

The Home Secretary said all these websites have since been blocked.

“Apart from these websites, 34 more have been identified and Government was in the process of blocking them soon,” he said.

"We want people to know that bulk of this was done from Pakistan. We will raise this issue with Pakistan. We believe it is highly reprehensible," he added.

To check spread of rumours, which has led to exodus of North-East people from certain states, the Home Ministry had on Friday banned bulk SMSes and MMSes for 15 days across the country.

The decision was taken after reports of widespread circulation of SMSes and MMSes containing misleading information about Assam violence, threats to people of northeastern origin living in other parts of the country and doctored videos.

The Home Ministry had asked Department of Telecommunications to implement the order through the telecom operators.

Driven by rumours, over 30,000 North-East people have left Bangalore fearing attacks on them while many of them have fled Chennai and Pune in the last three days, notwithstanding assurances from the Centre and the state governments.

Police have arrested sixteen people in Bangalore for assault and spreading rumours leading to flight of people from the North-East.

MPs cutting across party lines had on Friday spoken in support of people from the North-East with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declaring in both houses of Parliament that everybody would together ensure that those from the region were safe in all parts of the country.