Did Pak Army Pay Citizens to Join ‘Kashmir Hour’? No, Video is Old
The video of Pakistani Army personnel distributing money among the protesters has nothing to do with Kashmir.
advertisement
CLAIM
A video of Pakistan Army distributing envelopes of money among people was uploaded by a Facebook page named ‘Love India Troll Pookisstaan’, which claimed the Army paid its citizens to join the ‘Kashmir Hour’ protest.
After the Centre abrogated Article 370 - which granted special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir - Pakistan has been opposing the move at every level, even raising the Kashmir issue to the UN. It held Kashmir Hour - a protest to show solidarity with the the people of J&K - on 30 August.
The caption along the video, which was posted on the day of the protest, read “#PakExposed. Pak army distributed money to the protesters of there citizens to Join #KashmirHour”
You can find the archived version of the post here.
The Army personnel is seen handing out envelopes of money to people, which they claim contain a sum of Pakistani Rs 1000.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
The video is from 2017 and has been shared with a false claim on Facebook. Pakistani Army personnel had distributed money for the protesters to return home after they were released from detention following the Pakistani government's agreement with them.
WHAT IS THE TRUTH
On dividing the video into multiple key frames using video verification tool InVid, we conducted a Google reverse image search with keywords “Pakistan Army Distributes Money”.
It took us to a 2017 report by Pakistan-based media channel Samaa TV, according to which Pakistan’s Punjab Rangers Director General Azhar Naveed Hayat distributed money to the protesters so that they could return to their homes after they were released from detention following an agreement with them.
Naveed handed out envelopes, with a token as bus fare, to members of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Ya Rasul Allah who were released from detention following the government's agreement with the protesters, the report said.
On further search, we found a Dawn report that said that protesters from various religious groups on 27 November 2017 cleared Faizabad interchange and called off their countrywide protest, after over 20 days, when the government accepted most of their major demands under an army-brokered agreement.
Ever since the revocation of Article 370, multiple videos and photos have been shared with false claims or misleading context.
(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on Whatsapp at 9643651818, or e-mail it to us at webqoof@thequint.com and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)