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KARACHI: The Indian media went berserk by propagating fake news about a “civil war” like situation in Karachi leading to a hilarious response from the social media users in Pakistan.
The arrest of PML-N leader Captain (retd) Safdar on charges of political sloganeering at Quaid-e-Azam’s mausoleum and leave applications by senior police officers was exploited by the top Indian news channels, who portrayed an administrative issue as a “civil war” and went to the extent of even reporting casualties and armed clashes.
The fake news phenomenon hit its climax with Indian media headlines exclaiming “Pak Civil War: Clashes Between Pak Army & Police Results In 2 Casualities”; “3 dead, 15 injured in Karachi blast as ‘civil war’ like situation emerges in Pakistan” and “Pakistan abuzz with rumours of ‘civil war’ after reports of abduction of Sindh police chief.”
#CivilWarInPakistan and #KarachiCivilWar were in no time the top trends as Twitter users posted video clips from action movies, comics, images of the Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman, shot down by Pakistan Air Force inside Pakistan’s territory, as scenes from the civil war.
A little investigation would have informed @ZeeNewsEnglish that it wasn’t a bomb blast in ‘civil war’ in Pakistan but gas leak in Karachi. Whither truth, objectivity, balance and fairness in reporting? https://t.co/RaZ81Tx96C
— Farhatullah Babar (@FarhatullahB) October 21, 2020
The news reports were part of a persistent barrage of fake news from Indian mainstream media on social media over the past few months. The trend has witnessed a sharp spike as part of India’s fifth-generation war against Pakistan. The Indian media churned out fake news but were overpowered by the anti-Pakistan hysteria undermining its professional ethics and credibility.
All major media outlets decimated all journalistic norms and ethics with fact-check such a huge gaffe. India’s News18, India Today, Zee News, India.com and several others showed old videos of bomb explosions in Pakistan and portrayed it as the ongoing civil war.
Karachi civil war has gotten so bad that my food panda delivery boy had to crawl through mine fields carrying his AK47, RPG & 9mm along with my nihari and Biryani. This thing is getting so serious. Multiple cows have been killed & people are dying of over eating. #IndianMedia 😂
— Fakhr-e-Alam (@falamb3) October 21, 2020
Indian disinformation accounts are exploiting Pakistan’s current political crisis and falsely claiming that the country is now experiencing urban warfare and other serious instability. Dangerous and disturbing; several of these accounts are verified, with large followings. Ugh.
— Michael Kugelman (@MichaelKugelman) October 21, 2020
Besides numerous other fake photos, the Indian media also used an image of a building collapsed following a gas leakage blast in Karachi earlier in the day to substantiate its fake news of civil war.
“A little investigation would have informed Zee News that it wasn’t a bomb blast in ‘civil war’ in Pakistan but the result of a gas leak in Karachi. Whither truth, objectivity, balance and fairness in reporting?,” said Pakistan Peoples Party leader Farhatullah Babar.
An Aircraft shot during civil war in Karachi… and the pilot captured…
#Karachicivilwar #IndianMedia pic.twitter.com/Al5iWx6jOe
— Fasih Uddin (@Fasih_Uddin) October 21, 2020
Captain Amir Liaquat Hussain leading the #CivilWarinPakistan, targeted Sindh Police positions with 2 grenades at a time from a single RPG. 👏 pic.twitter.com/VVDeI8y4Rh
— Kashif Ali (@KaschifAli) October 21, 2020
Chairman of Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir Shehryar Khan Afridi has taken strong exception to fake news reports orignating from India regarding an alleged ‘civil war’ in Pakistan.
“A figment of India’s state machinery’s imagination, reportage pertaining to imagined unrest in Karachi amounts to 5th generation propaganda warfare which is an evident ploy at perpetuating misinformation with regard to Pakistan, both at home and abroad,” he said in a statement.
“Pakistan strongly denounces this organised propaganda which has backing from Indian deep state. The international community is urged to take note and condemn the spread of fake news by India targeting Pakistani state institutions,” he added.
Shehryar Afridi said that Indian media and social media accounts were involved in malicious propaganda against Pakistani state institutions maligning them of internal squabbling. He said it is ironic that there is no action by the management of social media applications against Indian state actors and non-state actors who were spewing venom against Pakistan.
He warned that if this nefarious propaganda is not stopped immediately, Pakistan reserves the right to seek legal action against those individuals or groups involved in malicious campaign against the state institutions.
