Minister slams false narrative to malign Pakistan over Bondi terror suspect's identity

Islamabad, Dec 17 (PTI) Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Wednesday blamed “hostile countries” peddling a false narrative to malign Pakistan in the wake of the fatal Bondi beach shooting in Australia.

At least 15 people were killed on Sunday after a father-son duo launched a gun attack on the occasion of a Jewish festival being celebrated at the beach.

One of the attackers, Sydney resident Sajid Akram, 50, was shot dead. His 24-year-old Australia-born son Naveed Akram, is injured.

Akram was first identified as Pakistani but later, officials in India said he is an Indian citizen from Hyderabad and had migrated to Australia 27 years ago.

Tarar said that soon after the incident happened, certain media outlets were very quick to state that one of the attackers was from Pakistan.

“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 at a media briefing.

He said that sadly even reputed media outlets fell prey to this “disinformation campaign” and they failed to verify the information before sharing it.

“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.

However, the minister appreciated Australian authorities for “conducting themselves very professionally throughout the investigation”. PTI SH NPK NPK