MUMBAI: In a show of gross misreporting and anti-Pakistan propaganda the Indian media issued a news report claiming that three Pakistani nationals associated with the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)  had entered Mumbai and planned to carry out an attack similar to  2008 Mumbai attack, DawnNews reported.

The Times of India newspaper published a notification claiming to be based on the Indian intelligence authorities saying that three Pakistani nationals had entered Mumbai and were staying in disguise, planning to carry out an attack similar to those carried out in 2008.

The media channels broadcasted the pictures of three Pakistanis whom they had claimed to be terrorists but the alert turned out to be false when the three persons identified as terrorists in the Indian media turned up at Lahore’s Gulberg Police station to verify their locations after watching the news on the Indian channels.

The three persons are Lahori residents who work at Hafeez centre situated in Lahore. The persons were identified as Atif Butt and Mehtab Butt who are shop owners and the third person was identified as Babar Shakeel who works as a security guard in the shopping centre.

While talking to DawnNews the three Pakistani citizens said that the Indian media exhibited its anti-Pakistan sentiments by publishing their pictures.

Gulberg ASP Tariq Aziz told DawnNews that the initial report of the reported persons’ presence had been submitted in the police station and the matter would be forwared to the cyber-crime wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for further investigation and to ascertain how the Indian media got hold of the Pakistani national’s photographs.

Shopkeepers and traders of Hafeez centre held demonstrations in protest to the act of misreporting by the Indian media and said the protests would continue not only across Lahore but all over the country.