Pak Minister Passes Off Old Video As Anti-Article 370 Protest

Pakistani Leader tweeted an old video and falsely claimed that it is a recent video from Kashmir.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

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CLAIM

Given the current crisis in Jammu and Kashmir, following effective revocation of Article 370 which granted special status to the state, Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi, tweeted a video on Friday, 9 August, claiming that several people in Kashmir protested against the Modi-led government for its decision on Article 370.

In the video, people can be heard chanting pro-Azaadi slogans like ‘Yeh jung hai jung-e-azaadi, is paar bhi lenge azaadi, us paar bhi lenge azaadi, hai haq hamaara azaadi, hum cheen ke lenge azaadi’

(Translated: This fight is for freedom, this side will win its freedom , that side will also win its freedom; freedom is our right, we will snatch and win our freedom)

(Photo: Twitter screenshot)

The archived version of the tweet can be viewed here.

The tweet had been viewed over 48,000 times and had 1,900 retweets at the time this article was written.

NOT A RECENT VIDEO

Since people were chanting ‘Haq hamaara azaadi,’ in the video, we searched on YouTube using the same keywords and found a video that was published in May 2017 which matches the one shared by Zaidi.

A YouTube keyword search led us to a video published in 2017.(Photo: YouTube screenshot)

FROM BURHAN WANI FUNERAL PROCESSION

To establish the origin of the video, we searched on YouTube using keywords ‘Kashmir procession azaadi,’ and found a video titled as ‘Burhan Wani’s funeral,’ published in 2018.

A keyword search led to a video that suggested that it is from Burhan Wani’s funeral procession.(Photo: YouTube screenshot)

Consequently, we looked for more videos using keywords ‘Burhan wani funeral procession,’ and found that the same video was uploaded in October 2016 as well, titled as ‘A Sea Of People In The Funeral Of Burhan Wani In Tral Kashmir.’

Further, a local Kashmiri journalist confirmed to The Quint that the video is indeed from Burhan Wani’s funeral procession.

WHO WAS BURHAN WANI?

Burhan Wani, a 21-year-old senior Hizbul Mujahideen commander and the face of new generation terrorism in Kashmir, was killed in an encounter in Kokernag area of South Kashmir’s Anantnag district, 8 July 2016.

Following his death, widespread protests erupted in Kashmir which resulted in a state of emergency in the valley for 53 consecutive days. The violence following Wani's funeral saw the death of at least 91 people in the state of Jammu and Kasmir.

The state also suffered losses to the tune of over Rs 16,000 crore during the five-month long unrest in the Kashmir Valley due to complete halt of economic activity coupled with loss of property worth crores of rupees.

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