2018 Kulgam blast video shared in Pak social media as Kashmiris massacred in recent unrest - Alt News
Pooja Chaudhuri
10th August 2019 / 7:05 pm / Last updated: 13th August 2019
Abdullah Gul, the son of former ISI DG General Hamid Gul, tweeted a video on August 10, claiming it was sent was a “Kashmiri sister” and depicts a massacre in the region. The video shows people running havoc, carrying injured bodies. His tweet in Urdu roughly translates to – “Massacre started in Kashmir. This video has been sent by a Kashmiri sister. Quaid-e-Azam has ordered army to march towards Kashmir. We are providing diplomatic, moral and political support. Imran Khan says he will respond if Pakistan attacks. Isn’t Kashmir Pakistan? Did Tipu Sultan go that way?”
کشمیر میں قتل عام شروع
یہ ویڈیو کشمیری بہن نے بھیجی ہے
قائد اعظم نے فوج کو کشمیر کی طرف مارچ کرنے کا حکم دیا تھا
ہم سفارتی، اخلاقی و سیاسی مدد کر رہے ہیں
عمران خان کہتے ہیں کہ اگر پاکستان پر حملہ ہوا تو جواب دینگے
کیا کشمیر پاکستان نہیں؟
کیا ٹیپو سلطان یہی راستہ اختیار کرتے؟ pic.twitter.com/UHoV6wG6FW
— Abdullah Gul (@MAbdullahGul) August 10, 2019
Gul’s tweet was shared by a Twitter handle TIMES OF GAZA with the claim – “Indian forces are brutally killing people in Kashmir during the lockdown.”
The video was also shared by Pakistani politicians Rehman Malik.
President ⁦@realDonaldTrump⁩ and ⁦@UN⁩ and other human rights bodies to take notice of this Indian gunship attack on innocent Kashmiris who are demanding their right of self determination as per UNO resolution.⁦@narendramodi⁩ ⁦@hrw⁩ pic.twitter.com/6nDgk11Zi6
— Senator Rehman Malik (@SenRehmanMalik) August 13, 2019
The clip tweeted by Gul is unrelated to the recent unrest in Jammu and Kashmir. Alt News broke the video into multiple frames and reserve-searched one of the images on Google. We were led to a YouTube handle which had uploaded the same video last year titled – ‘Kashmir News’. The description of the clip says, “Civilian death toll mounts to seven in Kulgam* Srinagar, Oct 21(GNS): The civilian death toll has risen to seven with the death of another.”
https://youtu.be/pOgILhhoiLY
When we searched for videos on YouTube using keywords – ‘Kulgam blast’ – we found an October 22, 2018 broadcast by IB Times which carried the same video. Identical visuals can be seen 0:32 seconds onward.
An additional spokesperson of JKNC had also tweeted the video last year.
People who keep commenting so much about Kashmir without knowing what it is like to live here must watch this video. Honestly, I did NOT want to share such a disturbing/graphic clip here, but then THIS IS THE REALITY. 7 civilians hav died in Kulgam, dozens injured. #KashmirBleeds pic.twitter.com/yXgkO15BGK
— Sarah Hayat Shah (@SaraHayatShah) October 21, 2018
On October 21, 2018, seven civilians were killed in Kashmir’s Kulgam in an explosion at the site of a gun battle between militants and security forces. According to Hindustan Times, the police said that three Jaish terrorists were also gunned down in the encounter. While the police maintained that civilians were advised to stay away from the site, angry locals questioned the authority’s failure to cordon off the encounter site to people.
In conclusion, a video of the 2018 Kulgam blast was shared as visuals of the ongoing unrest in Kashmir after J&K’s special status under Article 370 was scrapped. Alt News has come across several such cases where old clips were shared to claim Kashmiris attacked in J&K – old mock drill video from Jharkhand, old lathi-charge video from Patna.
Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News.
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