Srinagar: Lashing out at an Indian Daily for misquoting his son in a news report filed by it based on falsified quotes to mislead people, the mother of Ghalib Guroo Tuesday said that her son never said he is proud to be an Indian. “How can my son utter that his father was on a wrong path and he is proud to be an Indian when he knows it well that it was Indian Establishment that executed his father mercilessly,” Tabasum Gurro, the wife of Muhammad Afzal Guroo told news agency CNS.
Muhammad Afzal Guroo was hanged in Tihar Jail in 2013 for his alleged role in Indian Parliament attack. The Supreme Court in its verdict said that Guroo should be hanged to satisfy the collective conscience of society.
Tabasum said that the ‘Times of India’ Reporter Aarti Tickoo Singh along with her colleague Rohan Dua visited her house for an interview. “When I refused, Aarti Tickoo Singh introduced herself a Kashmir Pandit and said that she can understand the pain people of Kashmir are going through. There was a discussion for an hour and she fumbled while answering most of the questions that I posed to her about atrocities, killings, torture, vandalization and arrests. She pretended to be pro-Kashmir and expressed sympathies with me,” Tabasum said and expressed shock the way Aarti Tickoo Singh and her colleague misquoted her son.
“I don’t have any faith in Indian media. Whenever, you will talk to them, they will look for the point which will suit them and will never highlight the truth. I wonder how these shameless people used my son for their concocted and fabricated story,” Guroo’s wife said.
A video attacked with the Times of India story shows a Reporter (not in frame) asking Ghalib Guroo if he was “proud of the fact that you own a Government of India card?” To which Ghalib replies at least he has this card and now wants a passport so that he could pursue his medical education in Turkey. He also says he has a scholarship offer from that country (Turkey).
The reporter then asks him again if he was “happy” to have an Aadhar card, to which Ghalib replies,” Yes, I am happy.”
The ToI in its story quoted Ghalib as having said that: “I will be a proud Indian citizen when I get my passport.” Tabasum said that it is a white lie just to twist the story. The story filed by these two Reporters is rubbish based on falsehood. Ghalib never said anything that these Reporters wanted to listen, instead I explained to them how India is suppressing the sentiments of people in Kashmir,” she said.
The ‘twisted’ story filed by Aarti Tickoo Sinhg and Rohan Dua invited sharp reaction from the Kashmiri netizens. A Journalist took to Twitter and wrote: “Times of India captioned its Oct 30, 2017 editorial as, Aadhaar overkill: Originally conceived as an empowerment tool, it is disempowering citizens now, In Kashmir, its reporter asks a question: Are you proud of having an Aadhaar card? The reporter deserves a Noble Prize.”
“A young man, with Aadhar card, went through agony of his father being hanged in Tihar jail & then buried inside Tihar jail. All a “journalist” could ask him, are you proud of your Aadhar card, & then falsifies the quote. I just can’t come to terms with this deceit,” he said and added that from what is evident, this story appears to be based on a falsified quote sought from an absolutely leading question by the interviewer. In the video attached to this TOI story, the interviewee does not (DOES NOT) say he is proud of his Aadhaar card.” (CNS)
