THE ASIAN INDEPENDENT UK
Bal Ram Sampla
Geopolitics
When news first broke about the Bondi B each terror attack in Sydney on December 14, 2025, the initial response from some Pakistani media outlets followed a predictable pattern: blame Afghanistan. This wasn’t surprising given the long-standing tensions between the two countries. The narrative was simple—Afghan terrorists were giving Pakistan a bad name.
But then the facts started coming in.
When the Facts Changed Everything
Australian authorities identified the attackers as a father and son: Sajid Akram, age 50, and Naveed Akram, age 24. More importantly, investigators revealed that both were originally from Lahore, Pakistan. Sajid had arrived in Australia in 1998 on a student visa, while Naveed was born in Australia. Police found Islamic State flags in their car and uncovered that Naveed had connections to an imprisoned IS member.
These weren’t vague details that could be disputed. These were documented facts from Australian law enforcement.
The First Pivot: Denying Pakistani Origins
As the Lahore connection became public, some Pakistani media outlets attempted a different approach. They suggested that the name “Akram” indicated possible Afghan heritage, not Pakistani. They claimed that reports of Pakistani origin were “unsubstantiated propaganda” spread by Indian media trying to damage Pakistan’s reputation.
This narrative had obvious problems. Australian authorities had verified the family’s background. They weren’t relying on Indian media reports—they were conducting their own investigation. The father’s immigration records showed he came from Lahore in 1998.
The Second Pivot: The “Good Muslim” Story
When denying Pakistani origins became untenable, the narrative shifted again. Now Pakistani media focused heavily on Ahmed al-Ahmed, the 43-year-old Muslim fruit shop owner who heroically tackled one of the gunmen, was shot twice, and helped prevent further casualties.
Al-Ahmed genuinely is a hero. Even Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu praised him publicly. But the timing and intensity of this coverage served a specific purpose: it created a “good Muslim versus bad Muslim” framework that shifted attention away from uncomfortable questions.
Questions like: Where were the Akram family radicalized? What role did networks in Pakistan or the Pakistani diaspora play in their extremism? How did they connect with Islamic State ideology?
Blaming Israeli and Indian Media
Throughout this narrative evolution, a consistent theme emerged: blaming foreign media. Pakistani outlets accused Israeli and Indian media of deliberately highlighting the attackers’ Pakistani origins to defame Pakistan. They portrayed any mention of the Lahore connection as politically motivated propaganda rather than factual reporting.
This deflection strategy ignored a basic reality: Australian authorities were the ones providing this information, not Israeli or Indian journalists. The Sydney police didn’t investigate this attack to embarrass Pakistan—they investigated it because 15 people were killed at a Hanukkah celebration.
Why This Matters
The shifting narratives reveal an uncomfortable truth about how some Pakistani media handles terrorism with Pakistani connections. Rather than confronting difficult questions about radicalization, extremist networks, or ideological problems, the response is to:
1. First, blame another country (Afghanistan)
2. When that fails, deny the Pakistani connection entirely
3. When that becomes impossible, change the subject to positive stories
4. Throughout it all, accuse foreign media of conspiracy
This approach prevents honest reflection. It avoids asking why individuals from Lahore became radicalized enough to carry out a mass casualty attack on the other side of the world. It doesn’t examine what networks or ideologies connected them to the Islamic State. It doesn’t consider what Pakistan could do differently to prevent such radicalization.
The Uncomfortable Reality
The Bondi Beach attack involved terrorists from Pakistan. That’s not Indian propaganda or Israeli conspiracy—that’s what the evidence shows. Acknowledging this fact doesn’t mean all Pakistanis are terrorists, just as acknowledging Ahmed al-Ahmed’s heroism doesn’t erase the attackers’ origins.
But when media outlets work this hard to avoid saying where terrorists came from, it raises a question: if you can’t honestly acknowledge a problem, how can you ever solve it?
The constant narrative shifting—from blaming Afghans, to denying Pakistani origins, to focusing only on the Muslim hero, to accusing foreign media of defamation—looks less like journalism and more like damage control. And damage control, however understandable the impulse, doesn’t stop the next attack. Only honest reckoning with extremism and radicalization can do that.
References
1.https://youtu.be/fQDVI2rVFF0?si=qLH_x17MH0T4D1eI
2.https://www.cbsnews.com/news/australia-bondi-beach-suspects-father-and-son/
3.https://organiser.org/2025/12/15/330297/world/bondi-beach-shooting-naveed-akram-reportedly-of-pakistan-origin-killed-at-least-11-people-during-jewish-festival/
4.https://edition.cnn.com/2025/12/14/australia/australia-bondi-attack-what-we-know-intl-hnk
5.https://abcnews.go.com/International/bondi-beach-australia-police-respond-incident/story?id=128388126
