Pakistani military lashes BBC for false reporting

The Pakistani military lashed out at British media BBC for a report on human rights abuse in the country's northwest tribal area, calling it a pack of lies, local reports said Wednesday.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military's media wing, was quoted as saying that contents of the story "Uncovering Pakistan's Secret Human Rights Abuses," published on June 2, carries conjecturing implicating Pakistan Army without any proof, the Xinhua news agency reported.

The BBC report claimed that scores of innocent people were killed in aerial strikes and ground operations of the Pakistani military during its operations against the militants in the northwest tribal district of North Waziristan.

Questioning the credibility of the story, the military said that they received a judgmental questionnaire from the BBC via email, to which they responded by offering a full opportunity and even interaction to know the facts. However, the media group never responded and did a preconceived, conjectured story.

The statement said that the BBC story is void of the context and understanding of the prevalent environment at that time.

"Contrary to the expression in the story, operation in North Waziristan as per the given date of the so-called incident in the report had not yet started. The area was being used by terrorists to plan, coordinate and execute terrorist activities across the country, the ISPR said.

"On the average, 6-8 terrorist incidents per month were taking place across Pakistan, targeting children, women, schools, churches and markets. People were being slaughtered in North Waziristan and terrorists were playing football with heads of their victims. North Waziristan district and the local population were actually hostages to hardcore terrorists," it said.

The BBC story lacks any credible and authentic source and merely relied on hearsay, the ISPR said, noting that the only sources interviewed in the story also did not mention any airstrike or operation that left a lot of people killed.

"The story remains ill intended, biased and part of a larger agenda. It also amounts to undermining Pakistan's efforts for fighting the global menace of terrorism and Pakistan's unparalleled achievements in the war against terrorism, contributing to regional peace," the ISPR added.

--IANS

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