Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Wednesday that it was falsely claimed after the Bondi Beach shooting in Australia that one of the attackers was from Pakistan, holding “hostile countries” responsible for this campaign.
The tragic attack by two men on Sunday resulted in the death of 16 people, including one of the attackers. Soon after the incident, a Pakistan-origin man living in Sydney was misidentified as one of the attackers. Later, it was confirmed that among the father-son duo of suspects, the former, 50-year-old Sajid Akram, was from India, and the latter, 24-year-old Naveed Akram, was born in Australia.
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“When the incident happened, certain media outlets were very quick to state that one of the attackers was from Pakistan and the other one was born in Australia.
“There was no evidence to prove this claim, there was no documentation, and there was no verification of this claim. But somehow, we know that this campaign was launched from hostile countries trying to malign Pakistan,” Tarar said during a media briefing in Islamabad.
The minister continued, “In Israel and India, this campaign was proliferated and posted on social media platforms, as well as electronic media platforms, which is very, very sad.”
He highlighted that Pakistan had been a frontline state in the war against terrorism and continued to combat terrorists. Here, he also mentioned the Army Public School massacre that took place on December 16, 2014.
A total of 147 people, including 132 students, were martyred and 180 were injured in the attack.
“So, we are a country whose children have also given sacrifices, whose children have laid down their lives in this war against terrorism,” Tarar said, adding that it was unfortunate that a “false campaign” was run against Pakistan.
He reiterated that there was not even a shred of evidence or any reliable source to back the claim that one of the Bondi Beach attackers was from Pakistan.
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Tarar further stated that the “misinformation campaign” against Pakistan was run deliberately, adding that it saddened him that very well-reputed media outlets fell prey to this “disinformation campaign”.
The minister said that these media houses and outlets, operating globally, had editorial boards and systems in place to verify information.
“There are structures, there is a hierarchy through which information is passed on, and editorial control is exercised. Even then, they failed to exercise the basic norms of journalism,” he said, reiterating that it was falsely claimed that one of the attackers was from Pakistan.
The claim, he said, was refuted as Indian police issued a press release on Tuesday stating that one of the suspects was from Hyderabad in India. He added that it had also been confirmed that the Indian embassy in Sydney had issued the suspect his passport.
“In fact, he travelled to the Philippines on that Indian passport as confirmed by the Philippines authorities,” Tarar said. “So, I don’t know why this campaign was run. But, it is very, very unfortunate.”
The minister then played a video that he said detailed how the campaign was run and which media outlets were involved in it.
‘Organised campaign’After the video ended, the minister said the campaign seemed to be an organised one. “It spread like wildfire, and no editorial board, no management, no reporter questioned where the information was coming from.”
He went on to say that one of the news outlets had gone as far as claiming that the attackers were from Lahore, without showing any documentation.
“How is it possible that when you give news with regard to a terrorism incident, and you claim that the attackers are from a certain country or are of a certain origin, you have no evidence whatsoever to substantiate your claim?
“It really saddens us as victims of terrorism.”
He said Pakistan had always and would always condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.
Tarar pointed out that Pakistan did not instantly react to the false claim as “a responsible state acts like a responsible state by actually verifying information”.
He also questioned how it was possible that the Indian government did not know that the suspects were of “Indian origin or had Indian passports or were Indian citizens”.
“Every country has a national database through which,[using] facial recognition, it can be easily identified to which country a certain individual belongs. There are retinal scans, there are fingerprints, there is facial recognition — there is so much technology in the world now that any database would have revealed where they were from.
“But unfortunately, there was a vicious campaign to instantly say that one of the attackers, the father, was a Pakistani national,” Tarar added.
The minister linked the occurrence also to the suspects having a name that “is common in certain parts of the world”.
He said it was not sufficient evidence to pin the blame on Pakistan.
‘Who is going to cover the damage?’Tarar also appreciated Australian authorities for “conducting themselves very professionally throughout the investigation. Despite the vicious campaign which was run all over the international media, they did not cast any aspersions in this regard, and they actually waited for this information to be verified”.
Saying that now that it was clear that the suspect was from India, Tarar added, “My question is, and I have the right to question, that who is going to cover the damage that was caused to Pakistan through these fake posts and false information.
“How do we go back to the position before the Bondi Beach attack? Should we initiate legal proceedings? Should we request an apology? Or will it just become a part of history as a campaign based on absolutely fake and false information to malign Pakistan?”
‘’India-backed terrorism in Pakistan’He said acts of terrorism had been taking place elsewhere in the world as well, recalling the murder and assassination of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada.
Nijjar was shot dead by masked gunmen outside the temple he presided over in 2023 after being wanted by Indian authorities for alleged terrorism offences and conspiracy to commit murder — accusations he denied. India was accused of being involved in his assassination, but New Delhi termed the allegation “absurd”.
“We have seen transnational assassinations taking place. We have seen this incident,” Tarar said during his briefing, adding, “We know that India supports terrorism in Pakistan.”
The minister said the Inter-Service Public Relations director general and he, too, had shared evidence of terrorism in Balochistan and Kyber Pakhtunkhwa being backed and funded by India.
“There is irrefutable evidence to prove that.”
In addition, he said, “Whenever Afghan soil is used for an attack in Pakistan, somewhere there is an indian link.”
Saying that the Afghanistan government had been cosying up to India these days, Tarar questioned: “What is the main reason behind it? Do they have any bilateral trade? Do they have other areas of mutual cooperation the great potential of which they want to realise?”
Reiterating that there was “irrefutable evidence of Indian terrorism in Pakistan”, he alleged that the country was not just involved in funding terrorism but also planning the attacks in Balochistan and KP.
Again highlighting that Pakistan had been fighting terrorism for long and rendered sacrifices in doing so, Tarar repeated that the campaign against Pakistan following the Bondi Beach shooting was unfortunate.
“And a country from where this campaign originated, and most of the Indian outlets that aired the [false] news without verification, they had no right to do this.
“Because their country is supporting terrorism, and we are fighting terrorism. That is the difference between India and Pakistan,” he continued.
Tarar further stated that now that there was credible information and irrefutable evidence of one of the suspects hailing from Indian, “how do you vindicate Pakistan in this? How do you say that ‘we are sorry and this should not have happened’”.
He asserted that while Pakistan had stood for peace, would always promote peace and condemn incidents of terrorism, the media was required to act responsibly and “pin the blame where it lies”. The media, he stressed, needed to verify the information and then disseminate it.
Again mentioning Nijjar’s assassination, Tarar said it “shows you the true face of the Indian state”.
He also mentioned the recent incident of the chief minister of Indian state of Bihar pulling off a woman doctor’s hijab at a graduation ceremony.
“This just shows the mindset that is prevalent in that country with regard to extremism of any kind. Their society is absolutely disoriented. They don’t have any narrative to sell to the world, any story to tell to the world.
“All you can find within India is extremism of every kind being promoted. Because you have a government [there] which believes in extremism, suppressing the minorities and their rights and promoting terrorism and extremism,” Tarar commented.
‘Highly condemnable’Earlier in the media briefing, the minister termed the Bondi Beach shooting “highly condemnable”, adding that “since Pakistan is a victim of terrorism and has remained a victim for so many years, we actually know what it feels like”.
“We can feel the pain of Australia, the citizens of Australia. We can relate to them because we see this happening in Pakistan,” he said, expressing solidarity with the government and people of Australia.
He also lauded the Australian citizen who wrestled a gun from one of the alleged attackers and “saved several lives”.
During the Bondi Beach incident, 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed had hid behind parked cars before charging at one of the gunmen from behind, seizing his rifle and knocking him to the ground. He was hospitalised after getting injured in his bid to stop the attackers and has been hailed as a hero around the world.
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