Washington/New Delhi: The US House Foreign Affairs Committee has sharply criticised the New York Times’ coverage of the Pahalgam terror attack, accusing the noted publication of downplaying the incident by calling the attackers “militants” instead of terrorists.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee came down on the publication, saying that the attack was a terrorist act “plain and simple”, and added that when it concerns terrorism, the NYT is “removed from reality”.
Tagging an NYT article on the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, which was headlined by the daily as “At Least 24 Tourists Gunned Down by Militants in Kashmir”, the House Foreign Affairs Committee wrote on X, with a red line scoring out the word “Militants”, and posted:
“Hey, @nytimes we fixed it for you. This was a TERRORIST ATTACK plain and simple.”
Calling out the NYT’s highly biased coverage on terrorism by Islamic extremists, the post added: “Whether it’s India or Israel, when it comes to TERRORISM the NYT is removed from reality.”
The deadly terror attacks on April 22, in the Pahalgam region of Kashmir left 26 tourists dead – including a Nepali national.
The NYT downplayed the gravity of the incident by refusing to call the attack a terrorist incident.
The publication instead used terms like “militant” and “gunmen” in its description of the attackers, and merely called the massacre a “shooting”, which was severely criticised by the US government.
US President Donald Trump had also expressed solidarity with India and condemned the terror attack in a post on X, and vowed Washington’s “full support” to India in its fight against terrorism. He had also called up PM Modi and spoken with him, to condemn the attack and offer support.
