US EditionPoonch madrasa teacher died in Pakistan shelling. Now, anger over his misidentification as 'terrorist'
- Qari Mohammad Iqbal, a 46-year-old respected madrasa teacher from Poonch, India, died due to Pakistani cross-border shelling on May 8, 2025.
- The shelling followed India’s Operation Sindoor, launched to target terror bases in Pakistan after the April 22 Pahalgam attack, and sparked retaliatory strikes from Pakistan.
- Several Indian media outlets wrongly identified Iqbal as a Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist killed in India’s Operation Sindoor, causing outrage and social media backlash.
- Poonch Police and fact-checkers confirmed Iqbal was not affiliated with terror groups and condemned the false narratives as disrespectful, with the family demanding media action.
- This incident highlights the risks of misreporting sensitive conflict events, as it fuels unnecessary panic and insults the dignity of victims and grieving families.
11 Articles
11 Articles
Media portrays teacher killed in Kashmir as terrorist, police refute
A teacher who was killed in an attack on Poonch, Kashmir, on Thursday, May 8, due to shelling from Pakistan, was labelled as a terrorist by some media organisations in India. However, police clarified that the victim identified as Qari Mohammad Iqbal was a teacher. The authorities dismissed claims of the media organisations, including News18, Zee News, and Republic TV, as “meaningless” and “baseless”. The 46-year-old Iqbal, a native of Village B…
Poonch madrasa teacher died in Pakistan shelling. Now, anger over his misidentification as 'terrorist'
Qari Mohammad Iqbal, the teacher, was wrongly portrayed as ‘terrorist’ by several media outlets. Other victims of Pakistan shelling recall blasts; some of them escaped miraculously.
Media Outlets Falsely Label Maulana Mohd Iqbal as ‘Terrorist’ Killed in Poonch
Fact-check | Media Outlets Falsely Label Maulana Mohd Iqbal as ‘Terrorist’ Killed in PoK’s Kotli. These claims are false, the man in the visuals lost his life due to cross-border shelling by Pakistan in Madrasa and he was not a terrorist.
Mainstream Media Misreports Civilian Killed in Poonch Shelling as A Terrorist - Newschecker
In wake of the precision strike by India in several locations in Pakistan, many mainstream media outlets and social media posts in India claimed that among those killed in Operation Sindoor on May 7 was one Maulana Mohd Iqbal, an LeT terrorist. Flashing the image of a slain man with a bloodied face, reports claimed that the ‘terrorist’ was killed in the Kotli terror camp in PoK. Among the mainstream media outlets that identified the deceased as …
An Islamic teacher from Poonch dies in Pakistani shelling
Pakistan has reacted in a panic after India’s recent successful Operation Sindoor. Without any provocation, the Pakistan Army suddenly started heavy firing and mortar shelling near the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district, killing 10 innocent civilians and injuring more than 50 people.According to sources, artillery and mortar shelling were targeted especially in Poonch, Rajouri, Uri, and Tangdhar. So far, 10 innocent civilians have died in …
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