In one of the most shocking media episodes of the year, The Wire has published an article that appears to whitewash the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorists behind the Delhi Red Fort blast, a terror attack that killed 13 and injured over 20 people.
The explosion, carried out by Dr Mohammad Umar un Nabi, a Kashmiri doctor associated with JeM, came after security agencies exposed an inter-state terror module operating from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The same network had earlier stockpiled nearly 2,900 kg of explosives and multiple assault weapons.
The Delhi Police and intelligence agencies confirmed the involvement of JeM-linked operatives, several of them medical professionals from Al Falah University in Faridabad, including Dr Muzzamil Shakeel Ganie, Dr Adeel Ahmad Bhat, and Dr Shaheen Saeed.
Yet, rather than focusing on the horror of the attack or the lives lost, The Wire published a feature on November 13 titled “We Are Doomed, What More Can Be Said: Families of Kashmiri Doctors Linked to ‘Terror Module’ Case”, written by Jehangir Ali, framing the accused as victims and the state as oppressor.
Humanising terrorists, dismissing evidence
The article quotes the family of the suicide bomber, Umar Nabi, portraying him as a “hardworking student” and “role model” who struggled financially. Despite forensic confirmation of his identity through DNA testing, The Wire described the reports of his death as “unconfirmed.”
Instead of addressing his allegiance to JeM, the article recounted his “simple life,” his “faith,” and his mother’s struggle to fund his education, a narrative designed to invoke sympathy rather than accountability.
Such framing dangerously blurs the line between personal hardship and ideological extremism. The terrorist who detonated a bomb near one of India’s most iconic landmarks was not a misguided youth; he was part of an active module linked to Pakistan-based handlers. But The Wire’s account carefully avoids calling him what he was: a jihadist who killed innocent Indians.
From “Reporting” to Propaganda
The Wire’s portrayal of the accused doctors goes beyond journalism. It’s a pattern of narrative manipulation, where every act of jihad is repackaged as misfortune, every terror investigation as persecution, and every terrorist’s family as collateral damage.
By highlighting their academic achievements and rural struggles, The Wire conveniently omits the fact that education did not counter their radicalisation. Intelligence inputs clearly indicated that many of these individuals were radicalised online through Islamist channels, despite holding prestigious medical degrees.
When journalists choose to ignore such verified findings, the result is not reportage — it’s rehabilitation.
The Wire’s long record of defending the indefensible
This is not the first time The Wire has sided with those accused of anti-national or extremist activity. Over the years, the portal has:
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Portrayed Delhi riots accused like Gulfisha Fatima as victims;
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Questioned the authenticity of Pahalgam terror killings targeting Hindus;
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Downplayed the ideological nature of Islamist violence;
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Labelled the slogan “Jai Shree Ram” as divisive; and
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Published editorials romanticising anti-India protests as “social justice movements.”
With each such story, The Wire normalises a worldview where national security agencies are villains and religious extremists are misunderstood martyrs.
A moral inversion, sympathy for killers, suspicion for soldiers
At a time when investigators are risking their lives to trace cross-border terror networks, The Wire’s decision to publish an emotionally charged apologia for jihadis is not only unethical, it’s corrosive to public trust.
When a suicide bomber’s actions are softened into family sorrow, and verified evidence is dismissed as “unconfirmed,” it sends a dangerous message: that terrorism can be sanitised if wrapped in human interest prose.
This moral inversion, where killers are humanised and the state is demonised, weakens the collective resolve of a society already battling ideological subversion.
The larger danger: legitimising radicalism
The tragedy of the Delhi blast lies not only in the 13 lives lost, but in how parts of the media choose to romanticise jihad instead of confronting it.
By portraying radicalised professionals as “misguided youth,” such narratives provide moral camouflage to ideologies that recruit, radicalise, and destroy from within.
If allowed to continue unchecked, this culture of whitewashing jihad under the guise of human rights will make India’s fight against extremism exponentially harder.
Journalism or justification?
The Wire’s article is not journalism; it’s narrative engineering. It hides behind emotional storytelling to deflect accountability from terror groups and place the burden on the Indian state.
In doing so, it betrays not only journalistic integrity but also moral conscience.
Thirteen Indians were murdered. Yet instead of solidarity with the victims, publishers like The Wire chose sympathy for their killers.
They are apologists for terror.
