News outlets share morphed image of Pulwama attack 'mastermind' Ghazi Rasheed; Twitterati calls them out

Three militants, including Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant Ghazi Rasheed, were killed on Monday during an encounter in Pinglan area of Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district. The operation came four days after a JeM attack in Pulwama led to the deaths of 42 CRPF jawans. Ghazi alias Kamran is believed to have masterminded the attack on the CRPF convoy. Soon after his killing, some news outlets, including India Today and The Times of India, reportedly shared an incorrect image of the militant. The morphed image, which did the rounds on the internet on Monday afternoon, showed Ghazi’s face placed on a stock frame of a policeman. Twitterati had a field day calling out the media outlets for using the image, which some users believed bore similarities to a photograph of American pop legend Jon Bon Jovi.

Ghazi was considered to be a close aide of JeM chief Masood Azhar. ANI quoted sources as saying that Ghazi had crossed over to Kashmir from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in December 2018 on Azhar’s directions. Monday’s encounter lasted for over 17 hours. Ghazi was the so-called divisional commander of JeM for Pulwama, Tral and Awantipora areas of south Kashmir. With inputs from agencies