Peshawar terror victim shown as JEE qualifier

Srinagar: In a bizarre act, a coaching centre in Srinagar has used photographs of a victim of December 2014 terror attack at Peshawar (Pakistan) Army School, and a YouTube sensation from the neighbouring country, and yet another one from Alamy, a privately owned stock photography agency, to show them among sixty students who have qualified Neet-2017 and JEE-2017 medical and engineering entrance examinations through it.

“HOPE Classes take pride in congratulating the Gems who brought laurels to institute in its very first year of coaching,” reads a full-page advertisement appearing in a leading Srinagar newspaper on Saturday. It claims to be “gateway for medical and engineering” including IIT-JEE, Neet and AIIMS.

The 30 photographs of the students who, as per its claim, have qualified Neet 2017 entrance exam for the MBBS and another equal number of those the JEE-2017 include Mohd. Yaqoob. However, the photograph of the qualifier in the ad is actually that of Muhammed Yassen, the 14-year-old Pakistani among 141 persons killed in the December 2014 terror attack at the Peshawar school.

Yaqoob features in the list of qualified MBBS students at serial number 11, and like some other students is also featured in the list of qualified JEE students in the same advertisement. There is a possibility of a student qualifying both the exams.

It does not stop with the misuse of the photograph of the terror victim, who landed in his grave about 32 months ago, apparently to play fraud on gullible students and parents. Another student, who has qualified JEE-2017 (serial number 17) and MBBS (serial number 16), is Irfan Ahmad. But the photograph used here is that of Pakistani YouTube entertainer Shahveer Jafry, who makes short comedy skits on Facebook. Jafry was born and raised in Islamabad before moving to Canada.

Yet another candidate, who like the other two, has qualified both the entrance exams features at serial number 24 in the MBBS list and at serial number 13 in the JEE list. She is Hadiya Jan, both in JEE and MBBS lists. But the photograph shown against these is that of a Muslim girl featuring in an album of Alamy, a US-based privately owned stock photography agency launched in 1999. The alleged fraud was detected by Kashmir Life portal, and a representative of the coaching centre told it that it was a “mistake”, which was being rectified by issuing a “corrigendum”. A cop said police may probe the case. 

A statement issued by the Kashmir Coaching Centres Association said that it has taken strong note of the fact that the photographs and names published in the ad have been lifted from various sources. “It is therefore being intimated to the said institute to issue a public apology, or a strict action would be taken.”