The New York Times on Tuesday, March 12, faced heavy criticism on social media after it described the dastardly Pulwama terror attack as an 'explosion'. "In India's Election Season, an Explosion Interrupts Modi's Slump," read the headline of the article. By "explosion", the newspaper meant the suicide bombing that killed over 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers in Jammu and Kashmir's last month. Besides, the renowned US daily also misspelt the name of the Prime Minister as "Narandra" Modi.
Twitterati slammed the leading American daily and asked, "If Pulwama was an explosion, was 9/11 a plane crash or accident?" Here are some of the reactions.
Meanwhile, the New York Times quietly changed their story's headline to "bombing" without any explanation.
The Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing in Pulwama on February 14 that led to the killing of 40 CRPF troopers. In retaliation, India carried out a pre-dawn airstrike on a JeM terror camp in Balakot sector at 3:30 am, reportedly killing 200-300 terrorists.
A day after, Pakistan Air Force jets entered Indian airspace near LoC and dropped bombs in the country's territory. Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was captured on February 27 after his MiG-21 Bison was hit by the Pakistan Army across the Line of Control (LoC). Next day, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan announced that Abhinandan would be released on March 1 as a "peace gesture".
