THE banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella organisation of armed Islamist groups, has warned the country's media and journalists against calling them a "terrorist outfit.
TTP spokesman Mohammad Khurasani, in a statement on social media on Monday (6), said his organisation was tracking media coverage that branded the TTP with epithets such as “terrorists and extremists”.
“Using such terms for TTP showed a partisan role of media and journalists,” the Dawn newspaper quoted the online statement by the TTP, also known as the Pakistan Taliban.
"Such labels on the TTP meant the media professionals were dishonest towards their duty and would create enemies for itself," Khurasani said.
Therefore, the media should call them by the name of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Khurasani said.
The Pakistan Taliban was formed in 2007 and the government listed it as a proscribed organisation in August 2008, following targeted attacks on civilians.
The TTP's first chief, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in a drone strike in 2009 by the US.
In its National Action Plan in 2014, the Pakistan government banned offshoot groups of the TTP and stopped the media from its so-called “glorification of militants”.
Several Pakistani journalists have been killed or kidnapped, sandwiched between the militants and the government's war on terror.
At least, 30 newspersons have been killed in erstwhile Fata and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in the last decade.
In most cases, the perpetrators have not been booked.
Clifford had previously denied killing Carol Hunt, 61, the wife of horseracing commentator John Hunt, and their daughters, Louise Hunt, 25, and Hannah Hunt, 28. (Photo: Hertfordshire Police /Handout via REUTERS)
Man pleads guilty to crossbow murders of BBC presenter’s family
A 26-YEAR-OLD man on Wednesday pleaded guilty to murdering two daughters of a BBC sports commentator and stabbing to death their mother in a crossbow attack.
Kyle Clifford had previously denied killing Carol Hunt, 61, the wife of horseracing commentator John Hunt, and their daughters, Louise Hunt, 25, and Hannah Hunt, 28.
However, appearing via video link at Cambridge Crown Court in eastern England, Clifford changed his pleas.
The court heard that Clifford tied up Louise Hunt, his former partner, binding her arms and ankles with duct tape before shooting her in the chest with a crossbow at the family home last July.
He pleaded guilty to three counts of murder, one count of false imprisonment, and two counts of possessing offensive weapons. However, Clifford denied raping Louise.
The murders took place at the family home in the commuter town of Bushey, near Watford, northwest of London.
Clifford was arrested in July following a manhunt after the bodies of the three women were discovered.
(With inputs from AFP)