The Government of India has raised strong objections to the coverage of the Pahalgam terror attack by the BBC, a UK-based global media outlet.
The BBC, in one of its news articles with the headline “Pakistan suspends visas for Indians after deadly Kashmir attack”, had labelled the Pahalgam terror attack as a “militant attack” and failed to acknowledge that the killings took place on April 22 on religious lines.
The government, conveying its concerns to BBC’s India head, Jackie Martin, objected to the use of the word “militant” instead of terrorists, stating that the report has played down the religion being asked of the people before being shot dead by the terrorists. The government has also asked the channel to refrain from hurting sensitivities in the future.
The government told the BBC that the Ministry of External Affairs will be keeping an eye on the BBC’s reporting of the terror attack in the future.
What Had BBC Said In Its Report?
BBC, in its report, described the terrorists as “militants” and “gunmen” and also dubbed Kashmir as “Indian-administered Kashmir”.
“Pakistan has responded with tit-for-tat measures against India as tensions soared following a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 tourists… Tuesday’s attack saw a group of gunmen fire on tourists near Pahalgam, a resort in the disputed Himalayan region,” sentences in the BBC report read.
Pahalgam Terror Attack And Aftermath
As many as 26 people, vacationing and enjoying at Baisaran Valley, known as “mini-Switzerland”, were brutally killed by terrorists on April 22 afternoon. The survivors revealed that the terrorists asked the names of the tourists before shooting them dead, and also asked them to lower their pants to ascertain they were non-Muslims. They also asked the people to recite Kalma, and those who failed to do so, were shot dead point-blank. Such minute details of the attack were sidelined in the BBC report.
