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Leftist Rag The Wire Journo Arfa Khanum Sherwani Platforms Pakistani Journalists To Deny Pahalgam Attack And Spin Collapsed Talks As Pakistan's Win

Leftist Rag The Wire Journo Arfa Khanum Sherwani Platforms Pakistani Journalists To Deny Pahalgam Attack And Spin Collapsed Talks As Pakistan's Win

The Commune 1 week ago

In two separate videos uploaded on her YouTube channel on 12 April 2026 and 13 April 2026, journalist of leftist rag The Wire Arfa Khanum Sherwani hosted Pakistani journalist Beena Sarwar and Geo News anchor Hamid Mir on her YouTube channel and the conversations that followed seemed to legitimise Pakistani state narratives on the Pahalgam terror attack and the collapsed Islamabad ceasefire talks.

Beena Sarwar: "No Evidence Against Pakistan" - Arfa Agrees

In the first video (12 April 2026), Arfa hosted Beena Sarwar, a Karachi-based Pakistani journalist and peace activist. When the Pahalgam terror attack came up, in which 26 civilians were killed, Sarwar made an unequivocal defence of Pakistan, she said, "Regarding Pahalgam, look, we in Pakistan, our friends, we are the first to criticise our own country and our own army, unlike Indians who do not criticise their own country and their own state, especially in front of other people. We openly criticise ourselves, we are even called traitors here in Pakistan for doing so. But regarding Pahalgam, no evidence was presented. The moment it happened; blame was immediately put on Pakistan. And as a person who believes in fairness, I think that was unfair. No matter how much we ourselves speak against Pakistan's army, we are called traitors here in Pakistan for it, but in this case, I am sorry to say, it was totally jumping the gun. And because of that conflict that happened last May, if you look at who benefited from it, on your side, your Modi government became stronger. On our side, our army became stronger. What did the common people get from it?"

Far from pushing back or questioning this framing, Arfa endorsed it saying, "Yes, Beena, I want to move forward from Pahalgam, because I also don't have evidence. The evidence has to be shown by the Indian government."

While sharing the above video on her X handle, she wrote, "Hamid Mir categorically said: 'Not Hormuz. Not nukes. Lebanon broke the deal.' An insight no one else in mainstream media is reporting." essentially amplifying a Pakistani journalist's unverified version of events as an exclusive scoop.

One pattern is common - within the span of 48 hours, Arfa used her channel to enable denying of Pakistani culpability in a terror attack on Indian soil, and then to allow a Pakistani television anchor to reframe a diplomatic failure as a Pakistani strategic victory. The Islamabad talks which Pakistan had projected as a massive win for its regional relevance, collapsed after 21 hours of negotiations, with Iran walking out and the ceasefire unravelling soon after. Neither guest was meaningfully challenged on any of their claims.

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