Taliban claims it's not against Sachin Tendulkar as reported

Sachin Tendulkar

The Pakistan Taliban, which was earlier said to have criticised Pakistan media for praising Sachin Tendulkar, has said that media had “fabricated” the statements of its spokesperson on the subject.

In its statement today, the shura council of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) said that it will target the journalists who had carried the statement of their spokesperson Shahidullah Shahid on Sachin Tendulkar and Pakistan cricket team.

“In Tuesday’s meeting, we decided to target only journalists and media organisations which twisted the recent statement of Shahidullah Shahid and tried to tarnish Taliban’s image nationally and internationally,” an unnamed senior leader of Taliban was quoted as saying by The News Daily.

“The task has been given to a select group of people within the Taliban to collect information about the journalists and media organisations who fabricated statement of the spokesman,” he said.

According to PTI, a short video clip showing Taliban criticising Pakistan media over Tendulkar’s retirement, which was doing rounds on the social media, was only a part of a bigger video.

The full video reveals that the TTP spokesperson Shahidullah Shahid was not criticizing the media, but saying that those who are opposed to calling dead militants as martyrs, are like people who refuse to praise Tendulkar because he is an Indian.