Old Image of Pakistanis Burning Tricolour Linked to CAA Protesters

A viral image on social media falsely claimed that CAA protesters burnt Tricolour but the image is actually from Pakistan.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

CLAIM

An image showing people burning the Tricolour with some holding banners of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the background is doing the rounds on social media with the claim that they are people protesting against the amended citizenship law.

“The shameful scene depicts the importance of removing the traitors from the country,” the claim adds.

The image shared by one Subhash Kumar had been shared over 14,000 times on Facebook at the time of publishing this article.

(Photo Courtesy: Facebook/ Screengrab)

In February, the same photo was viral with the claim that the people seen in the image are Muslims of Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh area. The women of Shaheen Bagh have been protesting against CAA for over two months now and several attempts have been made to discredit them by spreading misinformation.

(Photo Courtesy: Facebook/ Screengrab)

(Photo Courtesy: Facebook/ Screengrab)

TRUE OR FALSE?

The claim along with the image is false. The image does not show CAA protesters. These protests actually took place in Pakistan’s Multan in June 2015.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

On conducting a reverse image search, we found that the same image was uploaded by a website called Bloggers Speak on 12 June 2015 with the title: ‘Pakistani protesters burn a poster of PM Narendra Modi.’

A reverse search led us to a blog that had uploaded the image in June 2015.(Photo: Bloggers Speak’s website/ Screengrab)

The caption along with the image mentions that it was captured on 11 June 2015 when several protesters had burnt an Indian flag in Pakistan’s Multan. The image has been credited to Associated Press.

We then searched on website of AP Images and found that the image was indeed taken on 11 June 2015 by AP photographer Asim Tanveer.

“Pakistan has reacted angrily to comments made by the Indian prime minister that reportedly acknowledged Indian forces had a role in the war that created Bangladesh, part of Pakistan until 1971 when separatists won independence after a war,” the caption added.

The image was captured on 11 June 2015 by AP photographer Asim Tanveer in Pakistan’s Multan.(Photo Courtesy: AP/ Screengrab)

PM Modi had then acknowledged that Indian forces had a role to play in the 1971 Indo-Pak war which created Bangladesh, reported News 18. He had then said that he was “proud that Indian troops sacrificed themselves for liberation of Bangladesh,” the report added.

The Quint had earlier debunked the same photo with another claim that mentioned that the image is from India and demanded from the President that “the people who burn the Tricolour should be burnt alive publicly.”

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