Republic, CNN News18, Zee News brand madrassa teacher a terrorist, despite death in Pak shelling
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In a disturbing display of misinformation, several prominent Indian television channels, including Republic World, CNN News18, Zee News and News18 India, misidentified Qari Mohammad Iqbal, a madrassa teacher from Poonch, as a Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist killed during Operation Sindoor, despite lacking any verification of the claim.
The false reportage, which spread across regional platforms as well, triggered widespread condemnation after it emerged that Iqbal had in fact died in Pakistani shelling while praying in a mosque in Poonch and had no links to militancy.
The erroneous reports began circulating on Wednesday, with major networks claiming that Iqbal had been killed in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir during a military operation targeting Lashkar operatives, and accused him of involvement in recent attacks, including one in Pahalgam.
His image was widely used, and sensationalist segments on prime-time shows described him as a terror commander, contributing to a narrative that was later exposed as baseless by official sources.
Poonch Police dismissed the claims, clarifying that Iqbal was a respected religious figure who died in cross-border shelling, and emphasised that he had no affiliations with any terrorist organisation. The police warned that misreporting of such sensitive incidents not only incites fear and confusion but also disrespects the dignity of the deceased, while affirming that legal action would be taken against those responsible for the disinformation.
Despite the evidence against the false narrative, none of the channels responsible had issued a correction, although the mislabelled clips remained accessible online. Iqbal’s family condemned the character assassination and demanded justice not only for his death but also for the defamatory portrayal by the media.
The incident has sparked outrage on social media, where users criticised the legacy media’s rush to sensationalism without fact-checking, and called out the tendency to exploit conflict narratives for primetime impact. Community leaders and political figures, including Senior BJP leader Ravinder Raina, from the region expressed dismay over the national media’s detachment from ground realities and its propensity to stoke communal tensions through irresponsible reporting.
Civil society groups in Jammu and Kashmir, including religious organisations, have urged authorities to initiate legal proceedings against the media outlets that spread the misinformation, stating that setting a precedent was necessary to prevent future instances of defamatory and unverified reporting.
