Australian Muslim Cleric Misidentified as UAE Prince Talking About Kashmir
This video shows Mohammad Tawhidi, an Iranian-born Australian Muslim cleric, also known as the Imam of Peace.
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A video is going viral on social media to claim that it shows the Crown Prince of United Arab Emirates (UAE) calling Kashmir, a "Hindi land".
The person says, "My position on the Kashmir issue is very clear, I'm not a politician, I only care about history and religion. I know that Islam came to India much later than Hinduism, which had already existed. Pakistan claimed independence way after all this happened, 70 years ago. So I don't see Pakistan as a suitable negotiator regarding Kashmir. I don't think they have the right to speak. I believe it's Hindu land. My position is Kashmir is Hindu land, and I say this in front of everyone."
(Archives of similar claims can be seen here and here.)
What's the truth?: The video does not show the Crown Prince of UAE.
It actually shows Mohammad Tawhidi, an Iranian-born Australian Muslim cleric, who is also known as the Imam of Peace.
It shows the Imam speaking at ‘Arth – A Culture Fest’, held at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA) in Delhi in February 2019.
How did we find out the truth?: We noticed a logo in the viral video which read ‘Arth – A Culture Fest’.
We also conducted a reverse image search of some of the keyframes of the video on Google, which led us to the same video shared on Facebook on 9 August 2019.
The caption read, “Imam of Peace Mohamad Tawhidi On Kashmir.”
Taking a cue, we performed a relevant keyword search on Google using 'Imam of peace, Arth A culture fest'.
This led us to the original video on YouTube shared by the fest on 13 February 2019.
The description stated that it shows Australian Muslim Scholar, Imam Tawhidi in a conversation with Rajiv Malhotra and Vishwa Adluri at the fest which was held at Indira Gandhi National Center for Arts (IGNCA), Delhi.
The viral video starts at 55:04 timestamp.
He further adds, "I believe it's (Kashmir) Hindu land, that's very controversial, many will say no, they have the right to their opinion. My position is Kashmir is Hindu land, and I say this in front of everyone. I'm not just saying this because I'm in India, this has been my opinion for five years, even when I was an extremist this was my opinion, So nobody can say that I'm being paid by Modi."
Who is the crown prince?: Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan is the ruler of Abu Dhabi and the President of the UAE.
Whereas his son, Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is the crown prince of Abu Dhabi.
Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is the crown prince of Abu Dhabi.
(Source: Altered by The Quint)
Conclusion: A video showing Mohammad Tawhidi, an Iranian-born Australian Muslim cleric, saying that Kashmir is a "Hindu land" is being misidentified as the Crown Prince of UAE.
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