Malicious reporting damaged Kashmir cause: Masood Khan

LONDON: President of Azad Kashmir Sardar Masood Ahmed Khan has said that misreporting of an event in London caused huge damage towards Kashmir’s movement of liberation as Indian lobby used false reporting for its propaganda against Kashmiris.

Speaking at an event here alongside British Pakistani parliamentarians, the Azad Kashmir President expressed his sorrow over the deliberately wrong reporting about a charity event in which he was participating as a chief guest. A private television channel wrongly reported that “Azad Kashmir President attended a Bollywood dance event on the day sic Kashmiris were martyred in Indian occupation Kashmir”.

The AJK President said that the private channel broke all ethics of journalism and tried to sell “masala” for ratings which only pleased Indian lobby and disappointed Kashmiris everywhere in the world.

“This was the worst form of yellow journalism. The channel lied throughout and twisted the story to suit its agenda. I was attending a charity event which was held to raise funds for poor children in Azad Kashmir. That was never reported. I had nothing to do with any musical event or any anything like that,” he stressed.

He told the audience that India had propagated the misreporting widely and alleged that Sardar Masood Ahmed Khan, the president of Azad Kashmir, participated in a charity event where a musical dance party was arranged. He said: “Indian media made that false report its base and said that I had collected funds for spreading terrorism in Kashmir”.

Sardar Masood Ahmed Khan said that it’s collective responsibility of all to guard the liberation movement and highlight the atrocities of Indian Army. “India is not only violating the human rights in Kashmir but also indulged in genocide in beautiful valley of Kashmir. Misreporting and lies provided India with opportunity of misleading to the international communities. We must foresee the consequences of such misreporting. The false report clearly encouraged India to attack me and brand us in a bad light, this reporting was reckless,” he said.

The AJK President said that credibility of Pakistani and Kashmiri reporters was beyond any doubt but in this instance, knowingly a scandal was created out of nothing which brought shame to the community. He said that he has devoted his life for the cause of Kashmir and for a private channel to suggest as if I had misused government funds and attended a dance and song party was grossly wrong.

Sardar Masood Khan advised to media personals to report whatever is the truth but not mislead the people by misreporting.

He said that Indian lobby targets him whenever he is out of Pakistan and this time “misreporting was done to please Indian lobby”.

He said that misreporting is against the dignity of Pakistani media’s tradition.