• Tarar asserts campaign to ‘malign Pakistan’ originated in India, Israel; seeks accountability over damage to country’s reputation
• Slams global media for failing to verify information

ISLAMABAD: Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Wednesday accused “hostile countries” of launching a deliberate misinformation campaign that wrongly identified a Bondi Beach attacker as Pakistani, asserting that one of the suspects was in fact an Indian citizen.

During a media briefing in Islamabad, the information minister said the claims that spread rapidly on social and electronic media had originated from India and Israel, with the intent to malign Pakistan.

The tragic attack in Sydney on Sunday resulted in 16 deaths, including one of the two attackers.

In the immediate aftermath, a man of Pakistani origin was misidentified online as a perpetrator. Authorities later confirmed the suspects were a father-son duo: Sajid Akram, 50, who officials said was from India, and his Australian-born son, Naveed Akram, 24.

Mr Tarar began his briefing by condemning the “highly condemnable” shooting and expressing sympathy for the victims.

“When the incident happened, certain media outlets were very quick to state that one of the attackers was from Pakistan,” Mr Tarar said.

“There was no evidence to prove this claim, there was no documentation, and there was no verification of this claim. But somehow, we know that this campaign was launched from hostile countries trying to malign Pakistan.”

The minister criticised global news organisations for their role in amplifying the unverified reports.

He said the “misinformation campaign” was run deliberately and that he was saddened that “very well-reputed media outlets fell prey to this disinformation”.

“There are structures, there is a hierarchy through which information is passed on, and editorial control is exercised,” he said. “Even then, they failed to exercise the basic norms of journalism”.

Mr Tarar said the initial claim was officially refuted when Indian police issued a press release on Tuesday confirming one of the suspects was from Hyderabad, India. He added that the Indian embassy in Sydney had issued the suspect a passport.

“In fact, he travelled to the Philippines on that Indian passport, as confirmed by the Philippines authorities,” Mr Tarar said.

The minister then played a video that he said detailed how the campaign was run and which media outlets were involved in it.

After the video ended, the minister said the campaign seemed to be an organised one. “It spread like wildfire, and no editorial board, no management, no reporter questioned where the information was coming from.”

He went on to say that one of the news outlets had gone as far as claiming that the attackers were from Lahore, without showing any documentation.

While expressing solidarity with Australia, Mr Tarar praised its authorities for acting professionally and not assigning blame before verifying the facts. Now that the information is clear, he questioned what accountability there would be for the damage to his country’s reputation.

“My question is... who is going to cover the damage that was caused to Pakistan through these fake posts and false information,” he asked. “Should we initiate legal proceedings? Should we request an apology?”

“Their country is supporting terrorism, and we are fighting terrorism,” he stated. “That is the difference between India and Pakistan.”

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2025