No, Photo Doesn't Show Indian Official Attending Bangladesh's Security Meeting

A photo showing Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina attending a meeting with eight others is going viral on social media to claim that an 'Indian High Commissioner' also attended Bangladesh's security meeting.

This comes after the massive student agitation that the country witnessed over the issue of reservation in government jobs.

(Archives of similar claims can be seen here and here.)

What's the truth?: The photo shows Tarique Ahmed Siddique, Security Advisor to Bangladesh's PM.

• It does not include any Indian official.

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How did we find out the truth?: We performed a reverse image search on the viral image on Google and this led us to a Facebook post shared by the official account of Bangladesh Awami League.

• This was shared on 21 July, and the post includes three images of the same meeting from different angles.

• The caption stated that it shows the PM with the Security Advisor, three forces Chiefs, Cabinet Secretary, and Principal Staff Officer of the Armed Forces discussing the security situation in Bangladesh.

• Taking a cue, we looking for relevant images for the ones mentioned in the caption and identified the person circled in the viral photo as Tarique Ahmed Siddique, Security Advisor to Bangladesh's PM.

• Siddique, a retired major general of the Bangladesh Army, was appointed as the Prime Minister's adviser in 2009.

• We found a post on X (formerly Twitter) shared by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh where he posed with Siddique.

Had a good meeting with Major General Tarique Ahmed Siddique, the Security Advisor to Bangladesh PM, on the sidelines of #DefenceExpo2022 pic.twitter.com/W2PHU0ivij

— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) October 19, 2022

• We compared the two images and could confirm that they are the same.

• We also found Siddique's photographs on Alamy and UN News's websites, and they match the viral photo.

• We also found out Pranay Verma is the High Commissioner to Bangladesh from India, who does not physically resemble Siddique from the viral picture.

Conclusion: A Bangladeshi official being a part of Bangladesh's security meeting was misidentified as an Indian official.

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