The US house foreign affairs committee on Wednesday took sharp exception to a New York Times headline describing the April 22 Pahalgam terrorist attack, where 28 tourists were killed, as the work of “militants.”
The Committee’s Republican majority posted a sharply worded correction on social media platform X, accusing the outlet of downplaying the severity of the incident.
In its post, the committee shared an edited version of the NYT headline, crossing out the word “militants” and replacing it with “terrorists.”
The caption read, “Hey, @nytimes we fixed it for you. This was a TERRORIST ATTACK plain and simple. Whether it’s India or Israel, when it comes to TERRORISM the NYT is removed from reality.”
The attack took place in the scenic Baisaran meadow of Pahalgam, a popular tourist destination in Jammu and Kashmir, when a group of armed assailants opened fire on a gathering of Hindu tourists.
Also read: Hindu America Foundation slams Western media for ‘whitewashing terror attack’ on Hindus
The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, claimed responsibility for the massacre.
Victims were reportedly identified and separated based on their religion before being executed — a chilling detail that has added to the outrage over the global media’s coverage.
Critics argue that major international publications such as The New York Times, BBC, Washington Post, France 24, and Al Jazeera used terms like “gunmen” or “militants” rather than “terrorists,” thereby diminishing the ideological motive behind the killings.
Many also pointed out the consistent use of the term “India-administered Kashmir” by these outlets, accusing them of pushing a narrative that aligns with Pakistan’s position on the region’s status.
The editorial language used in the coverage has come under severe scrutiny, with allegations that it sanitises the attack’s religious targeting and undermines Indian sovereignty. Critics have labelled this as part of a broader pattern by sections of the Western media to underreport or euphemise Islamist violence.
