PESHAWAR – The largest and most active armed militants group in Pakistan, TTP or Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, has recently warned the Pakistani media outlets to not call them “terrorist outfit” or else they will be attacked.
A spokesman of Indian funded militia, Mohammad Khurasani, released a statement that said that the group is keeping an eye on the media coverage, branding the TTP with titles, like ‘terrorists and extremists.’
It added that using such titles for the armed group showed a ‘partisan role of media and journalists,” it said, adding this is a ‘stigma’ on the profession of journalism.
The statement further added that Pakistani media used such harsh terms for the TTP at the behest of one party, which had selected it for its rivals so, the media should call them with the original name or otherwise, the media would do professional dishonesty and would create enemies for itself.
Mainstream media in the South Asian country had referred the group as a terrorist outfit since it started killing civilians in a series of attacks, and was later outlawed.
The terror group was formed in 2007 while Pakistan declared it as a proscribed organization the very next year. Baitullah Mehsud established the group in the northwestern region of Pakistan; he was killed in a 2009 attack.
Pakistan has outlawed a number of other offshoots of the group and had directed the press from what it called ‘glorification of militants’ through the much-publicized National Action Plan in 2014.
Meanwhile, dozens of Pakistani journalists have been assassinated, in the war against terrorism across the country, particularly in KPK, Sindh, and surroundings.
Reports cited that around 30 journalists had been killed in militancy and acts of targeted killing in Fata and KP alone while the family members of some of the journalists were either killed or threatened.
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The group is notorious for being behind numerous high-profile terror attacks and assassinations across Pakistan. Some of them include the 2011 attack on one of Pakistan’s largest air bases, the attack on Karachi International Airport in 2014, and the heinous massacre at the Army Public School in Peshawar that killed 150 people, mostly minors.
On the other hand, TTP chief Noor Wali Mehsud has warned a holy nexus against Pakistan as it hoped to get help from the insurgents following the Taliban takeover.
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