Police have denied claims circulating in media and social media that linked the late Maulana Mohammad Iqbal to militancy. Maulana Iqbal, 46, a respected religious figure from Baila village in Mandi tehsil, was killed by cross-border shelling from Pakistan while at Madrasa Zia-ul-Uloom in Poonch city.
In an official statement on Thursday, the police clarified that Iqbal had no affiliation with any terror outfit. “The deceased was a respected religious figure in the local community and had no affiliation with any terror outfit,” the statement said. It condemned the spread of false narratives, highlighting that such misinformation disrespects the deceased and causes unnecessary panic.
A senior police officer called the misleading reports “insensitive.” “Poonch Police strongly refutes such false narratives,” the statement said.
The police have warned that legal action will be taken against those spreading fake news. “All media personnel and platforms are advised to verify facts from official sources before publishing any information related to security and public order,” the handout added.
The confusion began after national news outlets, including ABP News and Zee News, falsely reported that Maulana Iqbal had been “neutralized” in an airstrike, without verifying the facts. In reality, he was a teacher at Jamia Zia-ul-Uloom in Poonch and had no ties to militancy, as confirmed by locals.
“He was not a militant. He was a teacher who spent his life guiding young students at the seminary,” a resident of Baila told media. Another local confirmed that Iqbal had been teaching at the seminary for over a decade, earning respect for his religious knowledge and community service.
Despite a hospital report circulating, which listed Iqbal’s name as Qazi Mohammad Iqbal, aged 49, some media channels continued to misreport the facts. “Even after the hospital report was in the public domain, these channels kept running the false story,” said another local resident.
The false reporting sparked outrage on social media, with fact-checkers and civil society members calling out the media for distorting the facts. Mohammed Zubair from AltNews tweeted, “This is shameful by Indian news channels. Qari Mohammad Iqbal from Poonch, India was killed in shelling from Pakistan and is being portrayed as a ‘terrorist’.”
Community members expressed their outrage, describing the portrayal as a “deliberate insult” to Iqbal’s memory. “To call him a terrorist is to insult his memory and our grief,” said a community leader.
As of now, no media outlet has issued a correction or apology for the false claims.
