Social media was abuzz on Wednesday after a Kashmiri newspaper published a report that quoted Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi as having called upon Muslims in India to fight along with Pakistan in the event of India attacking that country.

Mr. Owaisi categorically denied issuing any such statement or publishing any pamphlet quoted by Kashmir Observer in its edition dated September 1, 2014. The newspaper pulled out the report soon after Mr. Owaisi’s rejection. Its owner, Sajjad Haider, told The Hindu that it was all a mistake and they had spoken to the MP about it. One of the editors who put the news online said they were victims of online fraud and had apologised to Mr Owaisi.

“We saw a poster on Twitter on an account in Mr. Owaisi’s name and put it up on our website believing it to be real. We made the mistake of not confirming it with Mr. Owaisi and it turned out to be a fake,” he told TheHindu.

Mr. Owaisi saw a conspiracy by Hindutva forces to defame him.

He said a pamphlet in Hindi carrying his photograph and the message in question had been doing the rounds on social media platforms for the last year and a half. He had denied issuing it and also condemned it. Terming its publication “pure mischief,” the Hyderabad MP said there was a concerted effort to defame him. “People can disagree with me for being anti-RSS. Not even in my wildest dreams would I think of issuing the appeal that is being attributed to me.”

(Additional reporting by Zahid Rafiq in Srinagar)