US govt corrects NYT, replaces 'militant' with 'terrorist' in Pahalgam report

A US panel slammed New York Times over describing the terrorist attack in Pahalgam in Kashmir, in which 26 people were killed, as a ‘militant’ one.

It was a terror attack, simple, said the US government, fact-checking NYT's headline.

The Resistance Front, a Pakistan-based terror group linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, had taken responsibility for the Pahalgam massacre, which was described by NYT as a "militant" attack.

Terror attack

In its report, NYT referred to the incident as tourists being gunned down, with the introduction noting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had termed it a "terror attack". The report quoted Modi as calling the shooting, "the worst against civilians in the region for years, a terror attack and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice".

On April 22, gunmen opened fire on a group of tourists enjoying the scenery in the popular Baisaran Valley in Kashmir, for 20 minutes, largely hunting down males and killing them.

Also read: Pahalgam attack LIVE: India retaliates after Pak firing along LOC; 2 soldiers injured in Bandipora

The US House Foreign Affairs Committee criticised the publication for downplaying the gravity of the incident by using terms like "militants" and "gunmen" instead of "terrorists".

In a post on X, the committee's slammed the newspaper's choice of words, sharing an image of the original headline - "At Least 24 Tourists Gunned Down by Militants in Kashmir" – and struck out the word "militants" and replaced it in bold red with the word "terrorists".

"Hey, @nytimes we fixed it for you. This was a TERRORIST ATTACK plain and simple. Whether it's India or Israel, when it comes to TERRORISM theNYT is removed from reality," the committee wrote, calling out what it sees as a pattern of minimising terror acts through diluted terminology.

Also read: Lashkar-e-Taiba and its terror infra intact in Pakistan | Pahalgam

The fact that NYT was terming the attack as merely a "shooting" and attributed the "terrorism" part only to Modi, drew strong objections from several officials in the US government.

US support

US President Donald Trump had called Prime Minister Modi on Wednesday (April 23) to express his condolences and offer full support in bringing the perpetrators to justice.

Randhir Jaiswal, ministry of external affairs spokesperson said in a post on X that President Trump strongly condemned the terror attack and expressed full support to India to bring to justice the perpetrators of this heinous attack.

Also read: Pakistan stands globally isolated in its claims over Kashmir

“India and the United States stand together in the fight against terror," he said. US Vice-President JD Vance too called Modi too condemn the attack.

This is the second time in recent days, the US government has lashed out at NYT for its editorial choices.

Recently, the official White House account fixed another NYT headline over a deported migrant.