Pakistan media retract fake anti-India story

Pakistan media was left egg-faced as they had to apologise for publishing reports based on bogus WikiLeaks cables that accused India of a genocide in Kashmir and of backing anti-establishment militancy against its regional arch-rival.

Pakistan?s leading English newspaper The News had on Thursday had splashed reports that said that New Delhi?s agents were sponsoring militants in Pakistani provinces of Baluchistan and Waziristan.

Other newspapers, including Daily Jang, The Express Tribune and The Nation claimed that American envoys to India had reported back that the country?s army was divided and two of its top generals were described as ?incompetent” and “self-obsessed?.

U.S. diplomats were also quoted as saying that a “Bosnia-like genocide” was being carried out in India-controlled Kashmir and the Indian army was backing Hindu extremist groups.

The hoax reports, which originated from an Islamabad-based news service Online Agency had to be retracted on Friday after the British newspaper The Guardian pointed out that these reports were in fact lies.

The Guardian, which has the entire archive of the over 250,000 secret U.S. diplomatic cables leaked by WikiLeaks on Nov. 28, said that after an extensive search of their database they had not found the messages mentioned by Pakistani media.

According to BBC, the fake cables are believed to have been planted by Pakistani intelligence.

Retracting the reports, The News on Friday said, “On further inquiries, we learnt from our sources that the story was dubious and may have been planted.”

The Express Tribune also published a front-page retraction saying it “deeply regrets publishing this story without due verification and apologises profusely for any inconvenience”.

But The Nation still seemed to believe the authenticity of the hoax cables and said that the report had exposed “India’s true face” in its editorial. Jang did not mention the report in its Friday edition, BBC said.