New Delhi:
The WikiLeaks, it seems, is already being misused to malign countries. Pakistan is being accused of doctoring leaked cables to show India in bad light.
This morning some Pakistani newspapers carried articles that purported to detail shocking American assessments of India's military and civilian leaders.
The Guardian which first published the cables have now proved that the reports in Pakistani dailies are not accurate. Guardian did it own searches and here's what it published after that:
- An extensive search of the WikiLeaks database by the Guardian by date, name and keyword failed to locate any of the incendiary allegations.
- It suggests this is the first case of WikiLeaks being exploited for propaganda purposes.
- The controversial claims, published in four Pakistani national papers, were credited to the Online Agency, an Islamabad-based news service that has frequently run pro-army stories in the past.
- No journalist is bylined.
Red-faced, Pakistan newspapers and websites retracted the fake WikiLeaks stories they published yesterday and apologised saying they regret publishing the stories.
The News said, "On further inquiries, we learnt from our sources that the story was dubious and may have been planted...the report originated from some local websites known for their close connections with certain intelligence agencies."