New York Times changes headline, deletes tweets after drawing flak for downplaying Pulwama terror attack

New York Times (image: thedrum.com)

New York Times, which was earlier caught peddling anti-India narrative with half-truths and whole-lies regarding the Pulwama terror attack, was caught downplaying the terror attack which claimed lives of 40 CRPF personnel by referring to it as “one explosion”.

NYTimes referring to the suicide bombing as an ‘explosion’

The article was reshared with an equally tone-deaf insensitive headline.

NYTimes’ tone-deaf tweet, now deleted

NYTimes even changed the headline, following a backlash on social media.

‘Explosion’ is replaced by ‘bombing’

However, it still referred to it as ‘bombing’ even though it was terror attack carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammad, a terror organisation thriving on Pakistani soil.

In an article published yesterday, NY Times mentions that as the 2019 general elections were closing in, Modi’s popularity was on a low and the “rejuvenated opposition was landing punch after punch with corruption allegations. But one bombing in Kashmir, and weeks of military brinkmanship with Pakistan afterward, appears to have interrupted Mr. Modi’s slump.” Not surprisingly, one of the co-authors of this bigoted piece is Maria Abi-Habib, who wrote the March 3 article peddling pro-Pakistan narrative.

The article further mentions, “Mr. Modi ordered airstrikes on Pakistan, which he blamed for the attack, and Pakistan struck back.” This is also factually incorrect. The Indian Air Force did not ‘strike’ Pakistan, but terror camps based in Pakistan. No civilians or army installations were targeted. Modi did not ‘blame’ Pakistan for the Pulwama terror attack. Jaish-e-Mohammad, a Pakistan-based terror organisation claimed responsibility of the attack. Thirdly, Pakistan did not ‘strike back’. Pakistan actually went aggressive and attacked India’s military installations while retaliating the destruction of terror camps thriving on their soil. Essentially, Pakistan tried to avenge the destruction of terror camps on their soil.

NYTimes then goes on to undermine the terror attack and analyse how the air strikes would work as a political gain for Modi. One wonders if such thoughts crossed their minds when the US Marines killed Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad, again in Pakistan.

With its incomplete, flawed and heavily biased reports, the New York Times has often tried to discredit the Indian government led by Narendra Modi. Recently, it had caused a huge controversy after it had peddled a fake narrative on ‘violent cow protection’ based on the data of self-proclaimed defenders of human rights, Human Rights Watch.

In the past, too, NYTimes has exploited children’s deaths to malign Yogi Government’s crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses in Uttar Pradesh. In an op-ed about India that was centred around the CBI raids at the residences of Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy, the founder promoters of NDTV, the NYT also had tried to take the similar path. The editorial was titled ‘India’s Battered Free Press’ which read like a textbook case of how it has been distorting the truth.

NYTimes’ former Delhi bureau chief Ellen Barry had also indulged in white-washing the 2002 Godhra carnage where as many as 59 people were burnt alive in a train. She had also spread lies to insult the victims of Godhra carnage in her report on the Gulbarg Society verdict. NYTimes also encourages troll-like behaviour while reporting on democratically elected public representatives by attempting to trivialise the personal lives of female politicians.

OpIndia Staff: Staff reporter at OpIndia