On December 4, a special unit of the army mistakenly opened fire at a pick-up van carrying coal miners from the Tiru area to their village in Nagaland’s Mon district around 5 pm. The Hindu reported at least 15 civilians and one soldier were killed. Two days later, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) took suo-motu cognizance of the incident.
Against this backdrop, a former defence officer and life coach A K Naithani tweeted a video that shows two civilians with knives threatening men in the armed forces. In the video, we see the troops firing shots on the ground.
How does one react to such provocation ? Notice the restraint shown by the armed soldiers …… *NOT TRIGGER HAPPY !* …._may draw your own conclusion._ pic.twitter.com/zrYM2L6LI2
— A K Naithani (@Anju1304) December 7, 2021
When a user asked if the video is from Nagaland, Naithani responded saying, “I have no reason to believe it not being so.”
I have no reason to believe it not being so. The pity is that we have no hesitation in doubting the integrity of our forces
— A K Naithani (@Anju1304) December 7, 2021
Twitter user MJ Augustine Vinod, whose bio reads ‘Group Captain (retd)’, tweeted Naithani’s video and blamed civilians for provoking the army in Nagaland to shoot for self-defence. Twitter user Capt Alok Tyagi shared the video with a similar claim.
REMEMBER INDIA
Soldiers don’t fire unless attacked upon, even then they warn first
See this video, you will know #NagalandFiring
pic.twitter.com/bFx85XYpn3— MJ Augustine Vinod 🇮🇳 (@mjavinod) December 7, 2021
BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar liked Vinod’s tweet.
The video was also tweeted by BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay albeit without any direct claim.
सेना का धैर्य देखिए🙏 pic.twitter.com/4jGsJuurml
— Ashwini Upadhyay (@AshwiniUpadhyay) December 10, 2021
Alt News has received several requests to fact-check the video on our WhatsApp helpline number (+91 76000 11160). The accompanying message is attributed to an army officer “explaining” the civilian deaths in Nagaland.
Old video from Colombia
Alt News performed a reverse image search of the video’s keyframes and found that it was aired in 2018 by Columbia-based news outlet Noticias Caracol TV. As per the report, the incident happened in Hacienda Miraflores in rural Corinto. The area falls under the jurisdiction of the Cauca Department of Colombia.
Colombia-based media outlets Movimiento MAIS and Pulzo also reported on the incident. MAIS had uploaded the viral video in 2018 and stated that the incident took place in Corinto.
Rechazamos rotundamente el uso desmedido de las armas en contra de nuestros hermanos en Miraflores Corinto, liberación de las tierras ya @JuanManSantos, @ONIC_Colombia @marthaperalta11 @luiskankui @FelicianoValen @CRIC_Cauca @FiscaliaCol @PGN_COL pic.twitter.com/qMouX4gmCH
— Movimiento MAIS (@MovimientoMAIS) January 5, 2018
On January 5, 2018, former president of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos condemned the incident.
Ningún colombiano debe agredir o irrespetar a nuestros soldados que sólo cumplen con el deber de proteger a los ciudadanos y sus derechos. La justicia debe operar contra los agresores.
— Juan Manuel Santos (@JuanManSantos) January 5, 2018
Therefore, an old video from Colombia was shared to justify the death of 15 civilians killed by the Indian army in Nagaland.
[Update: An earlier version of this report said that the incident took place in Nicaragua. The incident is from Colombia and the same has been rectified.]
