A viral image from a protest rally in Pakistan’s Karachi is doing the rounds on social media with a claim that it shows protesters in the crowd waving the Indian tricolour. According to the social media posts featuring this image, it shows members of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), a group advocating the rights of Pashtuns in Pakistan, rallying with the Indian tricolour to Islamabad.
The caption to one such image posted on Twitter reads, “PTM terrorist’s are now openly waving Indian flag. Their dirty face is now exposed. Pashtun rejects these Indian snakes…. #PahstunrejectPTM #PashtunLongMarch2Islamabad”
Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found that the image shared along with the claim is morphed.
The original image shows local tribes of Bannu district in Pakistan and members of PTM rallying with a black flag to protest the killing of four Pashtun youths.
The Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) is a peaceful human rights movement campaigning against extra judicial killings, enforced disappearances, discrimination and surveillance of the Pashtun community by the Pakistani authorities. Pashtuns in North-West Pakistan have been made especially vulnerable by the war against terror, unwillingly caught up and targeted in the battle between State security forces, the Taliban, and US – Afghanistan regional tensions. Their demand for the protection of the constitutional rights of Pashtuns, and their peaceful human rights work for the protection of their community have been met with hostility, criminalization and often violent reprisals by the Pakistani authorities.
After conducting a reverse image search of the image in question and a report was found on the same carried by an ANI report published on March 28, 2021. However, in this image, the men can be seen holding a black flag instead of the tiranga. They can also be seen holding both black and white flags in the march.
The caption to the image reads, “Participants of Jani Khel dharna on Sunday marched towards Islamabad to protest the murder of four Pashtun youths.” According to both, The Dawn and ANI, the image shows thousands of protesters from Jani Khel, a town in the Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan, marching to Islamabad with the bodies of four teenage boys. The bullet-ridden bodies were found in a field a week before the rally. The protesters were demanding action against anti-state elements.
Mohsin Dawa, PTM leader and member of the National Assembly, had also tweeted the same image with the caption, “Participants of Jani Khel Dharna marching towards Islamabad, we are on the way to join them in a while. #PashtunLongMarch2Islamabad aniKhelLongMarch2Islamabad”
Thus, it is clear that the image is morphed to provoke the sentiments of the citizens.
