Actor Zara Noor Abbas has fallen in the crosshairs of netizens who took to social media to criticse her Instagram story furthering Taliban propaganda regarding cross-border strikes by Pakistan.

 

“This is heartbreaking. No rehab facility or hospitals should be targeted in wars. I condemn the attacks that kill children and patients and innocents,” she wrote while sharing The Afghan’s Instagram post wherein it was claimed that dozens were killed and several others injured when Pakistan bombed a health facility across the border.

 

The post came amid what was termed by authorities in Islamabad as “propaganda” by the Taliban regime as Pakistan continues to carry out precision strikes on terror hideouts in Afghanistan in the aftermath of a spike in suicide bombings on this side of the border, and the Afghan Taliban’s refusal to rein in terrorists belonging to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

 

 

Pakistan on Tuesday maintained that it had targeted Camp Phoenix — a former US military base currently being used by Afghan Taliban forces — even as Afghanistan claimed a drug rehabilitation centre had been bombed instead.

 

According to Information Minister Atta Tarar, an ammunition storage facility was among the targets hit in the Afghan capital. However, reports from Kabul said that a drug treatment centre known as ‘Omid Camp’ was targeted, with Afghan officials claiming hundreds dead and injured as a result.

 

In a statement, Tarar said that Pakistan conducted six “precise, deliberate and professional” strikes in Kabul and Nangarhar on Monday night, as part of Islamabad’s Operation Ghazab lil-Haq, to dismantle terrorist infrastructure being used by the TTP to launch attacks in the country.

 

As with established practice, all six strikes were promptly put out with video footage by the information ministry, making the nature of the targets plain for all to see, he noted.

 

“The visuals leave no room for doubt,” the info minister said, adding the flames and secondary detonations witnessed in Kabul further confirm that the intended ammunition storage site was hit.

 

“No hospital, no drug rehabilitation centre, and no civilian facility was targeted,” he said.

 

However, the post by the actor came as similar posts from the Afghan side flooded the internet, and did not sit well with a number of netizens.

 

“If our celebrities are falling for Afghan propaganda then, it's a matter of great concern,” wrote one user.

 

Another said that actors such as Abbas with a huge following “should not be reckless” and verify what they post online.

 

Earlier, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif also went on to hint at possible staging of the incident by the Taliban regime for “international sympathy”.

 

Meanwhile, government officials noted that a systematic campaign to undermine Pakistan’s anti-terror agenda had been launched on social media.