Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday, 28 February, had announced that his country will release captured Indian Air Force pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman on Friday, 1 March, as a "gesture of peace."
The announcement came a day after the pilot was captured by Pakistan when his MiG fight jet was shot down during an aerial combat.
CLAIMS
Hours before the expected release of the IAF pilot, multiple videos claiming that Wing Commander Abhinandan was dancing with Pakistan Army personnel were circulated widely.
The videos, which are blurry, feature three men dancing to the tunes of the song, Chita Chola, at unnamed location. The three of them are seemingly wearing army uniforms.
Amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, many Twitter users reacted to the video, with some saying it was “moment of love between" the two countries.
TRUE OR FALSE?
After assessing the video, it is evident that Wing Commander Abhinandan is not among the men shown dancing in the video. The visuals are falsely attributed to the IAF pilot.
To confirm, The Quint conducted a reverse image search and found a similar video that was uploaded on 23 February 2019, four days before the IAF pilot was captured. It was posted on YouTube by an account – titled Zee Creation – and had over 23,000 views.
The Quint also assessed the videos closely by using a magnifying tool to see the faces of the three men dancing. This method was also employed to see the bystanders (visible in the video) to confirm that the IAF pilot was not among them.
Moreover, the same video was posted on YouTube under the title 'Pak Army Dance - After Surgical Strikes on Chita Chola’.
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