In its usual sprint to serve up high-decibel patriotism and prime-time body counts, India’s legacy TV media has outdone itself – again. This time, several channels declared Qari Mohammad Iqbal, a madrassa teacher, as a Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist killed during Operation Sindoor. The only problem? Iqbal wasn’t a terrorist. He wasn’t in PoK. And he wasn’t killed by India. He died while praying in a mosque in Poonch under Pakistani shelling – and now, his grieving family wants justice not just for his death, but for the media’s character assassination.
In a video on Thursday, Iqbal’s brother Farooq said, “On May 7, my elder brother Iqbal was killed in Pakistani shelling while he was in a madrassa in Poonch. Our godi media ran fake news, terming my brother as a Pakistani terrorist and have hurt our sentiments. We were already hurt [after Iqbal’s death] but this wounded us further. We criticise this and urge the SP and Governor to take action against these media outlets.”
Qari Iqbal Mohammad's family demands action against 'Godi media' for falsely labelling him a Pakistani terrorist.
— Alishan Jafri (@alishan_jafri) May 8, 2025
They claimed that he was killed in Indian airstrikes in Pakistan.
Fact: He was killed in Pakistani shelling in Poonch. pic.twitter.com/cXpD2RYXaQ
The police also rubbished the fake claims and indicated legal action will follow. “Poonch Police refutes fake news circulating about the death of Maulana Mohd Iqbal in cross-border shelling. He had no terror links. Misreporting causes panic and Legal action will follow against those spreading misinformation,” Poonch police posted on X.
On Wednesday, several news outlets had reported that Iqbal was killed in Kotli in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) during Operation Sindoor. They used his pictures and claimed he was an LeT terrorist, who was involved in several terrorist attacks, including the recent one in Pahalgam. These outlets included Republic World, CNN News18, News18 India and Zee News.
On CNN News 18, Rahul Shivshankar let a panelist wax eloquent about Iqbal’s profile. “Essentially he was not a terrorist operation leader, he was the…” said the panelist. “Motivator,” said Shivshankar before the panelist could finish his sentence. The headline of a clip uploaded on YouTube called him “Lashkar terrorist”.
Republic World called Iqbal a “top LeT commander, involved in major terror attacks, including Pulawama”. After claiming he was “confirmed dead” in Operation SIndoor, the outlet claimed that he was hiding in a Kotli Lashkar Camp, 15 kms from the LoC, along with 50 terrorists.
Zee News also claimed that he was a “terrorist” killed during Operation Sindoor.
Regional outlets were not behind. A clip uploaded by News18 MP Chhattisgarh also termed him a “terrorist”. ABP Majha chipped in with similar claims.
Most of these clips were still online at the time of writing this report.
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