Dainik Jagran’s ‘fake strike’, army in search of reporter
Dainik Jagran published a news in the entire eight columns of the front page of the newspaper on 22 August. In this, it was claimed that India has again done a surgical strike on Pakistan. In this news published from the byline of a reporter named Gagan Kohli, it was said that the army, crossing the Line of Control between Poonch and Rajouri, completely destroyed four launching pads of terrorists operating in Nakyal, Kotli, Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
Refuting this news of Dainik Jagran, the Indian Army has said that no such operation has been done. The Press Information Bureau has also termed this claim of Jagran as fake.
.@JagranNews द्वारा दावा किया गया है कि भारत ने पाकिस्तान पर फिर से सर्जिकल स्ट्राइक की#PIBFactCheck
— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) August 22, 2023
✔️यह दावा गलत है।
✔️21 अगस्त को जनरल एरिया हमीरपुर में घुसपैठ की कोशिश को सेना द्वारा नाकाम किया गया था जिसका विवरण @prodefencejammu ने मीडिया के साथ साझा किया था। pic.twitter.com/CDG4I6TzpQ
Newslaundry spoke to Defense Spokesperson Lt Col Sunil Barthwal, posted in Jammu, on this issue. He says, “There is no truth in this news. We are issuing a rebuttal to the newspaper, as the newspaper neither confirmed this to anyone in Delhi nor contacted our Jammu office.”
He further says, “We had issued a press release on August 21 that two terrorists have been killed in Balakot. This was the only operation that was carried out on the LoC. This news has also been published in all other newspapers. But Jagran has given a new form to this information.
Barthwal says, “I have been calling this reporter (Gagan Kohli) since morning but he has kept his phone switched off. I have to ask him to whom he has confirmed this big news? What is their source?
Barthwal Lage Haath also expresses a big concern, “Such a big news appeared in the national edition, imagine if the Parliament session was going on, there would have been a ruckus. Can’t even say that Gagan is a novice or a new journalist, he has been doing journalism for years.
Indian Army’s Delhi spokesperson Sudhir Chamoli says that we have issued a rebuttal in this regard to the Editor-in-Chief of Dainik Jagran.
He says, “We have told them that you are a well-known newspaper. Such situations and this type of news can make a difference to the security of the country. You are warned that the next time something like this happens, you will be informed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Henceforth such news should not be run without consent.
Where on one side the army and PIB have told the news of Jagran as fake. Whereas its reporters claim to stand by their news.
Kohli tells Newslaundry that I have written this news on the basis of my sources. According to Gagan, why would the Indian Army believe that it has done this? I have photo and video of this surgical strike.
Have you tried to know the side of the army or the government for this news? On this, Gagan says, “When someone will not speak, then from where will I write quotes. My story is 101 percent correct. It has been 23 years since I worked in Jagran and since then I have been covering terrorism. I am also following up the story today.
Sanjay Gupta, Editor-in-Chief of Dainik Jagran and Vishnu Tripathi, Executive Editor of the newspaper, hung up the phone on hearing our query about this news. We have sent them some questions. Will be updated in the news when their answer comes.
After this whole controversy, Dainik Jagran has changed the news published on digital. The headline of the first news was ‘Surgical Strike: India again carried out surgical strike on Pakistan, 12-15 commandos crossed LoC’.
Now the new headline is- ‘Jammu-Kashmir: India’s major action across the border, 12 to 15 soldiers carried out the mission; Seven to eight terrorists killed.
Dainik Jagran had also released a video on its YouTube channel in the morning based on this news. However, now Jagran has unlisted that video. But it can be seen through this video link.
To know the government’s stand on this whole matter, we have sent some questions to the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Arindam Bagchi, when the answer comes, it will also be added to the news.
This is not the first time that questions are being raised on the journalism of Dainik Jagran. Recently, the newspaper had tried to vitiate the atmosphere in Haldwani, Uttarakhand on the late evening of July 4 by giving a communal touch to the dispute between the two parties over the drain dispute.
