New Delhi: A Pakistani minister and a journalist have shared videos on Twitter, falsely claiming that Indian law enforcement agencies are committing atrocities against Kashmiris.
These videos come in the backdrop of the Narendra Modi government stripping Jammu and Kashmir of its special status, and dividing the former state into two union territories — J&K and Ladakh.
Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi shared a video of policemen beating up people and claimed that this was happening in Kashmir.
Let the world see what @narendramodi Govt is doing in #Kashmir
The #Hitler from the East rises while the world sleeps.@realDonaldTrump should consider imposing trade sanctions on India to control this monster before it’s too late! #SaveKashmirFromModi #IndianHitlerModi pic.twitter.com/YS5kBZAmk1
— Ali Haider Zaidi (@AliHZaidiPTI) August 18, 2019
In his tweet accompanying the video, Zaidi tagged US President Donald Trump and urged him to impose sanctions on India. He even called Modi a “monster” and “Hitler from the East”.
“Let the world see what @narendramodi Govt is doing in #Kashmir The #Hitler from the East rises while the world sleeps. @realDonaldTrump should consider imposing trade sanctions on India to control this monster before it’s too late!” Zaidi tweeted.
At the time of filing this report, the video had over 6,000 likes, 5,000 retweets and more than 2 lakh views.
The original video was, however, shot in Panchkula, Haryana, on 25 August 2017 and not in Kashmir as claimed by Zaidi. And the policemen in the video were not beating up Kashmiris, but supporters of Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh after they went on a rampage.
Singh’s supporters were angry over his conviction in a rape case. They had even attacked police vans, heckled journalists and set vehicles on fire. Police had to use lathicharge and tear gas to quell the crowd.
The edited video posted by Zaidi even had a woman’s sobbing voice in the background along with some disturbing footage in the end.
Journalist Hamid Mir tweets old video, then deletes it
Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir also shared a video on 17 August, claiming that the Indian Army was using Kashmiri youth as human shields against stone-pelters in Srinagar.
Mir has deleted the video, but it received over 9,000 likes and was shared 5,000 times before being removed. The video had even garnered around 2 lakh views.
The original video was, however, shot on 19 June 2018 in Pampore town of Pulwama district during a joint raid by the Army and paramilitary forces.
During the raid, a scuffle ensued between the locals and the armed forces, and four youths were detained. They were, however, not used as human shields against stone-pelters as claimed by Mir. The youths were released after the raid got over.
Mir, last year too, had tweeted a video of a man being pinned down on a cot and beaten up. He had claimed that the man was tortured in Kashmir, but it wasn’t true as the man was a Pakistani.
In collaboration with SMHoaxslayer
Also read: Indian Army did not kill ‘unarmed Kashmiris’, video is of mock drill by Jharkhand police