Assamese daily prints 2014 photo of Indian Muslim girl performing martial arts, calls her jihadi
An Assamese newspaper uses a photo of a Muslim girl performing martial arts during an event as part of National Girl Child Day, from 2014, on its front page portraying the girl as a terrorist.
In the wake of a steady rise in the number of terror attacks being carried out around the world, and the Isalmic State claiming responsibility for almost all off of those, the argument that Islam breeds terrorism is being amplified by many on social media.
Are all terrorists Muslim?
Are all Muslims terrorists?
Known as a matter of fact, there are people who conveniently use the opportunity, a collective outrage against Muslims being on the rise, to misguide others into blind hatred. When media plays this card, it comes across as irresponsible journalism.
An Assamese newspaper, Asomiya Pratidin, used a photo of a Muslim girl performing martial arts during an event held to celebrate National Girl Child Day, from 2014, on its front page of July 11 edition, and claims the teenager is a jihadi.
Press TV has a video of this 2014 event held in Hyderabad, where many Muslim girls were seen demonstrating their martial arts skills. Girls as young as 10 performed Vovinam, a Vietnamese martial art form, that day. See the video here:
Asomiya Pratidin's July 11 front page was tweeted by a lawyer, Aman Wadud, saying, "Hyderabad School girls performs martial arts on NationalGirlChildDay. Assamese Newspaper portrays them as Jehadis (sic)".
Hyderabad School girls performs martial arts on NationalGirlChildDay. Assamese Newspaper portrays them as Jehadis pic.twitter.com/jNiD4Xq0xa Aman Wadud (@AmanWadud) July 12, 2016
To cross-check, we went to Asomiya Pratidin's website and checked the e-paper dated July 11.
And there it was.
Now when all is said and done, wasn't it just a slight of hand?