AltNews co-founder Zubair, who has often displayed Islamist tendencies was yesterday found shielding radical Islamists who may have been responsible for the serial bomb blasts in Sri Lanka. On Easter Sunday, as many as eight bombs blasts, most of which were suicide attacks, rocked Sri Lanka. While the Sri Lankan government has not disclosed names of the suspects who may have been involved in the attacks, an unconfirmed letter warning of the imminent terror attacks was being circulated over social media yesterday.
On April 11, Sri Lanka’s intelligence had reportedly issued a nationwide alert of possible suicide attacks being planned against Catholic Churches and potentially the Indian High Commission in Colombo by an extremist Islamist organization called the National Thowheed Jamath. The same was later on confirmed and shared by Harin Fernando, a Sri Lankan Minister who shared it on his social media.
Some intelligence officers were aware of this incidence. Therefore there was a delay in action. What my father heard was also from an intelligence officer. Serious action need to be taken as to why this warning was ignored. I was in Badulla last night pic.twitter.com/ssJyItJF1x
— Harin Fernando (@fernandoharin) April 21, 2019
However, self-proclaimed fact-checker AltNews’ co-founder Zubair was busy spending his Easter Sunday shielding Islamists by labelling the above letter ‘fake’.
So editor of Propaganda website @MyNation, @abhijitmajumder has twitted what was written in that FAKE LETTER which Srilankan media and officials have asked it’s citizens not to fall for. Thanks @ARanganathan72 for RTing it without confirmation. https://t.co/SMasYtet53
— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) April 21, 2019
The letter which mentions ‘Towhidi Jamat’ is Fake. Srilankan govt has suspended @WhatsApp and other social media websites as this fake news was viral. Many Journalists and Govt officials have asked not to share the fake letter.
CC : @gigipurple https://t.co/tAc1UgmRGN— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) April 21, 2019
One may argue that since the warning letter was not confirmed and not from an official government source, it should not be circulated to create panic. While that is correct, the appropriate response in such case would be to call the letter in circulation as ‘unconfirmed’. By calling it fake, Zubair ended up shielding the Islamists who could have been responsible for the attack.
As of now, multiple reports have also confirmed that a blast in Cinnamon Grand hotel during the brunch yesterday was carried out by one man who had checked in as Mohamed Azzam Mohamed giving a false address. As per reports, he waited in a queue and right before he was served he set off a powerful bomb in a packed restaurant in the hotel.
To prove his point that the ‘letter’ was fake, Zubair showed how Al Jazeera had retracted its story on the letter.
Hello @CNNnews18, @SwarajyaMag, @AmalRasheedali @ibtimes_india, It’s your turn now. ? https://t.co/sPhTFs6WHF
— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) April 21, 2019
However, Zubair has not yet updated that the same Al Jazeera has now published a new story where Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had prior information on the possibility of the attacks.
With this new information coming to light, one wonders whether AltNews will fact-check their own co-founder for calling ‘unconfirmed’ reports, which were later on confirmed by the country’s prime minister, as ‘fake’.
Clearly, this is not the first time Zubair has been caught sharing misleading information and calling actual news as ‘fake’ based on selective information. Before Karnataka Assembly Elections, Zubair shared a fake image of BJP leader BSY Yeddyurappa in a bid to defame him. He has also peddled a protest march picture from Maharashtra as one in Delhi and was later forced to retract and apologise. Zubair has also confused FDI in single brand retails and multi-brand retails.
However, with what he has done after Sri Lanka blasts, it seems that he has graduated from sharing fake or misleading images and misinformation to shielding radical Islamists as well.
