Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Wednesday slammed the fake news regarding the origins of the suspects in Australia’s Bondi Beach shooting, declaring it an attempt to malign Pakistan.
“A false and deliberate misinformation campaign was launched from hostile countries to malign Pakistan,” he told representatives of the foreign media in Islamabad. Describing the Bondi Beach attack on Dec. 14 as “a very sad and highly condemnable incident,” he recalled that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, President Asif Ali Zardari and the Government of Pakistan had categorically condemned it and expressed solidarity with the government and people of Australia.
Pakistan, having remained a victim of terrorism for many years, could fully relate to the pain of the Australian people, he said, paying tribute to a Syrian-origin Australian citizen who subdued one of the attackers, saving the lives of several people.
On Dec. 14, two gunmen—father and son Sajid and Naveed Akram—allegedly opened fire on Sydney’s Bondi Beach during a Jewish Hanukkah celebration. The attack killed 15 people, including a rabbi and a 10-year-old girl. Two police officers remain in critical but stable condition, according to New South Wales police. The father, Sajid, was shot dead by police at the site, while the son, Naveed, is currently in hospital.
Tarar noted that certain international media outlets were quick to falsely claim that one of the attackers involved in the incident was from Lahore, despite lacking any evidence to support the allegation. He alleged that the campaign had proliferated in Israel and India across social media platforms as well as electronic media.
“Pakistan had been a frontline state in the global war against terrorism and continued to combat terrorist threats,” he said, noting the campaign to malign the country coincided with date it was commemorating the most tragic incident of terrorism in its history—the attack on Peshawar’s Army Public School that left nearly 150 people dead, the majority of them children.
The minister said every segment of Pakistani society, from children to soldiers, officers, professionals, security personnel and police, had paid a heavy price over more than a decade in the fight against terrorism. He reiterated that there was no evidence linking the attackers to Pakistan, describing it as a deliberate misinformation campaign. He regretted that even well-reputed international media outlets fell prey to the narrative without conducting any basic fact-checks.
Tarar noted Indian police had issued a statement confirming one of the attackers was from Hyderabad, India, refuting the fake news. It was subsequently confirmed that his passport was issued by the Indian embassy in Sydney, said the minister, adding authorities in the Philippines had also confirmed the attacker had traveled there on an Indian passport.
“Pakistan had always condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and had acted responsibly by first verifying information rather than reacting instantly,” he said, questioning how Indian authorities had initially failed to identify one of the attackers considering all countries maintain national databases and facial verification systems.
Tarar praised Australian authorities for conducting the investigation professionally and refraining from casting aspersions despite the international media campaign. He questioned who would compensate Pakistan for the reputational damage caused by the false reports.
The minister also recalled the assassination of Canadian Sikh and Khalistan activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar and other incidents of transnational terrorism, stressing Pakistan had presented evidence of Indian funding and backing of terrorist incidents in Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa as well. “India had not only funded terrorism in Pakistan but had also been involved in planning attacks in Balochistan and KP,” he added.