Pakistan editor sacked over FakeLeaks anti-India reports

[Lankan Ranger]

Pakistan editor sacked over FakeLeaks anti-India reports

A Pakistani news agency at the centre of controversy over a report based on fake US diplomatic cables containing crude anti-India propaganda has sacked an editor for "fabricating a false story."

Siddique Sajid, an editor at 'Online' news agency, was fired following an inquiry ordered by the organisation's owner and Editor-in-Chief, Mohsin Baig.

"The decision to sack Mr Siddique Sajid was made after it was established in the inquiry that he had 'solely misused' his editorial authority in the absence of the news agency's Editor-in-Chief by 'fabricating a false story' on a highly sensitive subject such as the WikiLeaks' disclosure," said a message posted on Online's website.

The report, based on fake diplomatic cables from the US embassy in New Delhi purportedly released by WikiLeaks, was carried prominently by several English and Urdu dailies.

'The Express Tribune', a partner of the International Herald Tribune; and 'The News' published apologies after it was proved that the purported cables quoted in the report were fake.

Both newspapers had blamed Online for circulating the fake report.

The report, however, first appeared in the 'Daily Mail', a little-known newspaper which, according to reports in the Pakistani and international media, is believed to have links with intelligence agencies.

The Daily Mail has been unrepentant despite caught out and yesterday posted a message on its website claiming that its "disclosures" were authentic.

The message posted on Online's website said the news agency's management "regrets the release of the said story by Online, its subsequent publication by media, and the consequent erosion of their public credibility."

Online further said "stringent measures are being adopted to prevent vested interests from planting such fabricated stories."

Justifying the sacking of the editor, the news agency's owner Baig said: "I know the difficulty of reporting in a place laced with vested interests operating clandestinely, but reporting on currently the most volatile subject in global media and, that also, without corroborating the story's contents with factual documents is unacceptable."

Pak editor sacked over FakeLeaks anti-India reports

 

[Hulk]

I appreciate the owner of newspaper. It is very dangerous trend and should be stopped.

 

[riju78]

Wikileaks: Pakistan hoaxed by bogus anti-India cables


Pakistani newspapers have admitted they were hoaxed after publishing reports based on fake Wikileaks cables containing anti-Indian propaganda.

US diplomatic cables were reported on Thursday as confirming many right-wing Pakistani views and conspiracy theories about their regional arch-foe.

They claimed US envoys thought one Indian general was "rather a geek", and accused India of genocide in Kashmir.

The fake cables are believed to have been planted by Pakistani intelligence.

The Guardian, a British newspaper which has all of the 250,000 leaked Wikileaks cables, said that an extensive search of the database had found nothing to match any of the claims in the Pakistani media.

'Deep regret'
A spokesman for the Indian High Commission in Islamabad said they were "appalled" such a baseless story had attracted such wide exposure.

According to the fake cables, Indian spies were said to be supporting Islamist militants in Pakistan's north-western tribal region of Waziristan and the south-western province of Balochistan.

US diplomats were also said to believe the Indian Army was faction-ridden; a "Bosnia-like genocide" was happening in Indian-administered Kashmir; and the Indian military was supporting "Hindu fanatic groups".


The bogus messages also referred to the confession of Ajmal Qasab, the only surviving gunman of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, calling it funny and "shockingly immature".

US diplomats were said to have referred to former Indian Army chief General Deepak Kapoor as "an incompetent combat leader and rather a geek".

"His war doctrine, suggesting eliminating China and Pakistan in a simultaneous war front, was termed as 'much far from reality'," reported the News, a daily newspaper.

Another army chief had apparently been described as "an egotist, self-obsessed, petulant and idiosyncratic general, a braggadocio and a show-off, who has been disliked (and barely tolerated) by all his subordinates".

'Without verification'
The report also said that US diplomats had compared yet another Indian general in Indian-administered Kashmir to "General Milosevic of Bosnia with regard to butchering Muslims through war crimes".



The News said on Friday: "On further inquiries, we learnt from our sources that the story was dubious and may have been planted."

The English-language Express Tribune newspaper, a Pakistani affiliate of the International Herald Tribune, published a front-page retraction.

The daily said it "deeply regrets publishing this story without due verification and apologises profusely for any inconvenience".

But Jang, which had reported the fake Wikileaks story on its front page, did not mention it on Friday.

And the Nation newspaper still appeared to believe the story, claiming in an editorial that the report had exposed "India's true face".

The hoax is said to have originated from the Islamabad-based Online wire agency.

The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan in Karachi says Online is known for its close links to the Pakistani intelligence services.

The agency gained notoriety in 2002 when one of its correspondents tried to sell a video of US journalist Daniel Pearl's murder to US diplomats.

BBC News - Wikileaks: Pakistan hoaxed by bogus anti-India cables

few of the elite members here were going all hoo ha over these fake stories..glad that it has come out..

 

[JonAsad]

thats sad, fcukin sad... we are saints aren't we?
let the world spew their false and fake propaganda against us, against Pakistan, against Islam, let them call us taliban supporters, hate mongers, let them say our nukes gona fall in terrorista hand, and when we do return the favor, its our reputation at stake? fcukin which reputation?
Every thing is ethical unless we Pakistanis do it.

 

[RoYaL~GuJJaR]

Really Good move, I appreciate this..

 

[SpArK]

Good and great...

 

[Guest01]

That is a lot of credibility lost. Why is everyone mentioning the links with the Intelligence Agency? This will give the Army a bad name. Going by how things are done in Pakistan, there would have already been an article about this spoof being done by Rehman Malik or someone else in the government. Army's credibility in Pakistan is sacroscant I thought.

 

[Guest01]

thats sad, fcukin sad... we are saints aren't we?
let the world spew their false and fake propaganda against us, against Pakistan, against Islam, let them call us taliban supporters, hate mongers, let them say our nukes gona fall in terrorista hand, and when we do return the favor, its our reputation at stake? fcukin which reputation?
Every thing is ethical unless we Pakistanis do it.

Even in the light of the current this knowledge, why are you not ready to consider the the world could actually be right and in fact the infromation fed to you locally may be wrong and propagandist?

 

[Royan]

To be Honest I was not expecting the Apology and the sacking but I must say i am plsently surprised........
Good work

 

[riju78]

Leading Pakistani newspapers on Saturday acknowledged they were hoaxed into publishing reports based on fake WikiLeaks cables containing stories of factionalism in Indian Army and accusing New Delhi of sponsoring militant groups.

The reports — carried prominently in several papers including The Express Tribune and The News, a partner of the International Herald Tribune — quoted alleged U.S. diplomatic cables confirming conspiracy theories about India, particularly about Jammu and Kashmir.

The two papers on Saturday carried prominent apologies on their front pages regarding the reports.

However, The Nation, a daily known for its anti-India views, showed no regret and printed an editorial titled “India's true face”.

Both The Express Tribune and The News blamed the fake cables on the Online news agency, an Islamabad-based wire service that often carries pro-Army reports.

However, inquiries by PTI have shown that the report on the fake cables first appeared on the website of Daily Mail, a little-known newspaper, on December 8.

Several Pakistani bloggers have written that the Daily Mail is noted for printing wild conspiracy theories. In a recent report, it claimed that India's external intelligence agency was involved in framing Pakistani cricketers in a spot-fixing scam.

In its apology, The Express Tribune said the report it had published with the headline “WikiLeaks: What U.S. officials think about the Indian Army” was “not authentic”.

“The Express Tribune deeply regrets publishing this story without due verification and apologises profusely for any inconvenience caused to our valued readers,” it said.

The News, in its apology, said it had run the Online news agency's report “with the confidence that it was a genuine report and must have been vetted before release”. It added: “However, several inquiries suggest that this was not the case.”

The News said Online's owner Mohsin Baig and some editorial staff “were themselves unclear about the source of the story and said they would investigate the matter at their end”. It added: “On further inquiries, we learnt from our sources that the story was dubious and may have been planted.”

Britain's Guardian newspaper, which has been provided the entire database of leaked U.S. diplomatic cables, reported that an extensive search by “date, name and keyword failed to locate any of the incendiary allegations” about India. “It suggests this is the first case of WikiLeaks being exploited for propaganda purposes,” the paper reported.

The Hindu : News / International : We were hoaxed: Pakistani papers

 

[Royan]

thats sad, fcukin sad... we are saints aren't we?
let the world spew their false and fake propaganda against us, against Pakistan, against Islam, let them call us taliban supporters, hate mongers, let them say our nukes gona fall in terrorista hand, and when we do return the favor, its our reputation at stake? fcukin which reputation?
Every thing is ethical unless we Pakistanis do it.

Come on man Appreciate the guts of News paper for it bold decision , it will go a long way to salvage whats left of its repute......
Also feel proud a Pakistani paper was able to take such a decision and feel proud of it......