MHA uses Spain-Morocco pic to depict Indo-Pak border

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) faced severe flak on social media on Wednesday after a news portal blew the lid off its ‘achievements’. The portal showed a photograph used by the MHA in its annual report to depict western border fencing works, which was apparently of the Spain-Morocco border.

The glitzy photograph used on page no.40 of MHA’s Annual Report 2016-17 shows beautiful winding floodlit patch as part of India’s western border touching Pakistan.

Incidentally, the annual report has already been tabled in the Parliament and can be used by the Opposition to hound Modi government for presenting fake photographs for image building exercise.

After the news started trending on social media sites, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi called senior officers for clarification and on realising that the news was correct sought a report on the goof-up.

It appears that the photograph was supplied by the Border Security Force (BSF) to the Border management division.

Photographer Javier Moyano said the image was indeed of the border between Morocco and Spain. He said it is located in North Africa which is an area of immigration conflict and was clicked by him sometime between 2005-07. It’s a copyrighted photo, he added.