ISPR Tells Dawn Off For ‘Factually Incorrect’ Reporting
Inter-services Director General Public Relations Major General Asif Ghafoor refuted a news published in Dawn, wherein it had been stated that the armed forces of Iran and Pakistan had conducted joint patrolling.
On Monday, a tweet posted from the official account of the DG ISPR termed a report about joint patrolling of Pakistan and Iran’s armed forces as ‘factually incorrect’.
News published by Dawn today titled “Pak-Iran Forces jointly conduct border patrolling” is factually incorrect. There is no joint patrolling anywhere on Pakistani Borders. Patrolling/ operations if required are always on respective sides by respective forces through coordination. pic.twitter.com/9MnC0lbKMT
— DG ISPR (@OfficialDGISPR) December 9, 2019
Interestingly, Dawn was not the only news outlet which had reported the news. State-run Radio Pakistan had also reported it. People took to Twitter to highlight how the news had been published by an organisation run by the state, but the DG ISPR had only pointed out Dawn’s report and not the report of Radio Pakistan.
Dawn has categorically said that the news was released first by government run Associated Press of Pakistan and then by Radio Pakistan https://t.co/xU4psVgsA3
— Mubashir Zaidi (@Xadeejournalist) December 9, 2019
Journalist Bilal Farooqui questioned why the ISPR was singling out Dawn for the news report when refuting the story about the joint patrolling as the news had been carried by almost every news outlet.
Why is the ISPR singling out Dawn when refuting the story of Pak-Iran joint border patrolling. It was carried by almost every news outlet in the country because state-run APP & Radio Pakistan reported it too. Now it has removed the page. Here's the link https://t.co/uebyBrhm5h pic.twitter.com/Hpr0tP0J3S
— Bilal Farooqi (@bilalfqi) December 9, 2019
Any tweet for Radio Pakistan? pic.twitter.com/NDozGYcYhH
— Naila Inayat नायला इनायत (@nailainayat) December 9, 2019
Others pointed out that this showed the ISPR’s had not pointed out the mistake to Radio Pakistan.
Idhar aur radio Pakistan ki tweet pe bhi correction karwa len. Your bias against dawn is so evident, thora balance ho jai ga ? https://t.co/Qju6AnRQve pic.twitter.com/NEtnMtgBKj
— Awais Mumtaz (@awaismumtaz_14) December 10, 2019
Another user pointed out that The News and Radio Pakistan, the government’s own source, had published the news, but the DG ISPR did not check them. He further questioned why the ISPR did not call Dawn to provide a clarification on the matter.
The government's own source, @RadioPakistan, also ran a story about this (https://t.co/jX8Z4JaH6z) but has unfortunately experienced technical difficulties with this, and only this page. pic.twitter.com/4HY8ltYag3
— Ali Hasanain (@AliHasanain) December 10, 2019
Another user shared a screenshot of Radio Pakistan’s story and termed the situation ridiculous.
Getting a bit ridiculous now.#DGISPR_KingOf5thGenWar pic.twitter.com/4MP0eWvsVX
— Fahad Desmukh (@desmukh) December 9, 2019
On a lighter note, a journalist pointed out how so many outlets had published the news, but it was good to know that the DG ISPR only relied on Dawn for the news.
It was published in the News, Daily Express, Radio Pakistan and IRNA. But good to know DGISPR only relies on Dawn for news. https://t.co/BEpJgQ8RSf
— Sama Faruqi (@SamaFaruqi) December 9, 2019
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