TTP warns Pakistan media on 'terrorist outfit' tag

Gallery

MORE...

Sports

Hockey India names Amir Ali-led 20-man team for Junior Asia Cup

Hockey India on Monday announced the 20-member squad for the Men's Junior Asia Cup, a qual

Harmanpreet Singh named FIH Player of the Year, PR Sreejesh gets best goalkeeper award

World Boxing medallist Gaurav Bidhuri to flag off 'Delhi Against Drugs' movement on Nov 17

U23 World Wrestling Championship: Chirag Chikkara wins gold as India end campaign with nine medals

FIFA president Infantino confirms at least 9 African teams for the 2026 World Cup

Hockey, cricket, wrestling, badminton, squash axed from 2026 CWG in Glasgow

MORE...

TTP warns Pakistan media on 'terrorist outfit' tag

Last Updated : 07 Sep 2021 04:11:01 PM IST

The Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has issued a stark warning to Pakistan's national media and journalists, asking them to refrain from calling them a "terrorist outfit" or they will be treated as enemies, Dawn reported.

In a statement apparently released by the TTP on social media on Monday, its spokesman Mohammad Khurasani reportedly said they were monitoring the media coverage, branding the TTP with hateful titles, like "terrorists and extremists".

"Using such terms for TTP showed a partisan role of media and journalists," it said, adding this is a stigma on the profession of journalism.

Pakistani media had started referring to the TTP as a terrorist outfit since it began to target civilians in a series of attacks, and was banned by the government.

The TTP, a group of various militant outfits, was formed in 2007 and the federal government declared it a proscribed organisation in August 2008.

Baitullah Mehsud was the first chief of the TTP who was killed in a US drone attack in 2009.

The Pakistan government also banned other offshoots of the TTP and stopped media from what it called "glorification of militants" through the much-publicised National Action Plan in 2014.

Khurasani reportedly said the media used such obnoxious terms for the TTP at the behest of one party, which had selected it for its rivals. Therefore, the media should call them with the name of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan.

Otherwise, the media would do professional dishonesty and would create enemies for itself, the statement added.

Several Pakistani journalists have been assassinated, wounded and kidnapped in the war against terrorism across the country, particularly in the erstwhile FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Around 30 journalists had been killed in militancy and acts of targeted killing in the two regions alone.

In some cases, the family members of media persons were either killed or threatened to leave their native areas. It's not clear whether they, or some of them, were killed by the militants, as almost all of the perpetrators were never brought to justice.