After the central government’s decision to revoke Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, the situation in the Valley has been volatile. There has been a war of words at the diplomatic level between India and Pakistan over the decision to withdraw special status of the state.

Social media too is filled with several misleading claims on the issue. Facebook page Dr. Zubaida Rahman’ shared a website link from Bangladesh claiming that Indian soldiers are scared in the face of Pakistani aggression. It further claims that India has deployed an additional 20,000 troops to check the retreat of its soldiers from the Valley.

The claim

On August 6, Facebook page Dr. Zubaida Rahman’ wrote a post in Bengali which translates to, Pakistani Army is charging towards the Kashmir border. As the war cry intensifies, Indian soldiers deployed in Kashmir Valley are scared. India has deployed an additional 20,000 soldiers to check the retreat of its soldiers.

This page has more than 18,000 followers. The post, which also gives a link to an article in bdnetwork24, has been shared widely. The archived version of the post can be seen here.

Old photo used

We did a reverse search of the image shared along with the article in bdnetwork24 and found that it has been used in multiple articles in multiple media publications over a number of years.

AFWA traced the picture to a blog posted in 2013. The blog was on the Pakistani Army’s operation against terrorism in tribal areas. On October 27, 2016, Daily Pakistani used the same picture.

On April 26, 2018, the same picture once again appeared on Pakistan Today. Daily Times again used the same image on November 3 in the same year.

Therefore, it is certain that the image is old.

India did send 10,000 troops to J&K on July 29 that was widely reported in the media, and an additional 25,000 troops on August 2.

Incidentally, on the night of July 31, the Indian Army foiled an attempt by a Border Action Team (BAT) of Pakistani Army in Keran sector of J&K, killing five to seven intruders. Therefore, the claim of Indian jawans retreating in the face of Pakistani aggression does not hold true.

Also, the Pakistani Army had rejected claims of incursion through the Line-of-Control. The Dawn reported the same on August 4. The viral claim of Pakistani soldiers marching towards Kashmir can therefore be said to be misleading.

INDIA TODAY FACT CHECK





Claim This is the recent photo of Pakistani Army charging towards Kashmir. Conclusion The picture used along with the claim is old. JHOOTH BOLE KAUVA KAATE The number of crows determines the intensity of the lie. 1 Crow: Half True

2 Crows: Mostly lies

3 Crows: Absolutely false