A mix-up by media

The Sarabjit/Surjeet Singh mix-up has triggered a round of conspiracy theories about a “U-turn” by the Pakistan government. But a careful review of television footage shows that it was the media that got it wrong.

Farhatullah Babar, media adviser to President Asif Ali Zardari, can be clearly heard in his interviews to Indian television channels referring to Surjeet Singh as the Indian prisoner Pakistan planned to release. But after a Pakistani news channel referred to the person as Sarabjit, that became the name the media ran away with.