Article 370: Pak minister shares Burhan Wani funeral video as Kashmiris protesting against Indian govt

Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi tweeted a video of a mass gathering with the claim that these were Kashmiri people protesting against the Indian government after the recent development in J&K. “Millions of #Kashmiri rally in IOK against @narendramodi Govt”, reads the message posted by Zaidi. The tweet has garnered more than 1,100 retweets at the time of writing of this article.

Millions of #Kashmiri rally in IOK against @narendramodi Govt repealing of 35-A. #SaveKashmirFromModi pic.twitter.com/xoHYwSUYaw

— Ali Haider Zaidi (@AliHZaidiPTI) August 9, 2019

Twitter user Siddharth Jain alerted Alt News about Ali Haider Zaidi’s tweet. Many other individuals on Facebook have shared the video with the identical narrative.

Old video of Burhan Wani’s funeral procession

With a generic search on Google, Alt News found old videos of the same event posted by several users on YouTube. “Funeral procession of Shaheed burhan Muzaffar Wani 9 July 2016″, reads the title of the video posted below.

According to multiple YouTube clips, these visuals depict a mass gathering at the funeral procession of the divisional commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen Burhan Wani on July 9, 2016.

In the comparison below, one can see that the visuals in the video tweeted by Zaidi and the one available on YouTube of Burhan Wani’s funeral procession are identical. Three elements are seen in the two frames taken from the video posted by Zaida and the one available on YouTube since October 2016. Namely, a yellow-coloured umbrella, Green flag, and a man in red-shirt sporting a skull cap. The funeral was also reported by India Today.

In conclusion, a three-year-old video of a slained militant’s funeral was shared on social media by Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs to claim that a large number of people had gathered in Kashmir to protest the Indian government’s decision to strip J&K of its special status under Article 370. Earlier, Pakistani journalist Ameer Abbas tweeted old and unrelated photographs to depict the recent upheaval in Jammu and Kashmir.