Video labelled as ‘terrorist infiltration’ in Kashmir traced back to police academy in Pakistan

A video of young men wearing bulletproof jackets and carrying assault rifles has been shared on social media with the claim that there has been “terrorist infiltration” in Kashmir. The video has the words “Mujahideen Kashmir” written on it and in the first few seconds, a man’s voice can be heard. The words “Jihad” and “Kashmir” are audible in his commentary. Subsequently, the song ‘Ay Watan Tera Ishara Aa Gaya’ is played in the background.

From the Twitter handle @Ibne_Sena, the video received over one lakh views.

Here is the first proof what I said yesterday about Infiltration of Terrorists.

I don’t post useless things untill and unless I don’t confirm it from my sources. I got confirmation from many people.

Tweet Link:- https://t.co/qitKAMVUtB

pic.twitter.com/K3wCYpRv1f

— Ibn Sina (@Ibne_Sena) September 2, 2019

It has also been shared by a Facebook page ‘KT Kashmir Time News’ with an Urdu caption that says – “کشمیر کی تازہ ترین صورتحال۔ (The latest situation in Kashmir.)” The video received over 10,000 shares and more than 2 lakh views.

Video from Police Training Centre in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

There are multiple clues in the video which raise doubts about the “terrorist infiltration” claim and suggests that the video was shot in government premises. First, a uniformed man can be seen in the background (red arrow). Second, nearly all the young men are carrying backpacks, which suggests that they might be students or trainees (yellow arrows). Third, all of them have a similar military-style haircut (green arrow).

We saw that several users had commented on the video claiming that it was shot in Kohat Police centre in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

This vedio was shot at Kohat Police centre(Khyber Pakhtunkhwah)

— Fauzdar Ashish🇮🇳 (@FauzdarAshish1) September 2, 2019

A Google search took us to Police Training College (PTC) Hangu, Kohat in KP, Pakistan. Subsequently, a Twitter search with the keywords ‘Training Hangu’ threw up a September 2 tweet which carried a screenshot of the video and the Facebook profile of the person who created it.

@NIA_India training going on in Hangu, Pakistan against Kashmir. pic.twitter.com/kAUxB3y4FF

— vijayaraghavan (@vinjimurvijay) September 2, 2019

The video was posted by a newly-appointed official in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police, Nasrullah Khan, and a graduate of PTC Hangu.

A comparison of one of his images from his Facebook profile with a screenshot of the moment where he is seen in the clip establishes that he is the creator of the video.

For further corroboration that the video was filmed inside the campus of PTC Hangu, Alt News compared the visuals of the building seen in the video with the photos of the academy available online. The colour of the walls of the building (yellow arrow) and the design of the balcony grills (red arrow) match. Furthermore, trees with white paint on their barks (white arrow) are visible in both images.

While the motive behind filming the video is uncertain, whether it was posted in jest or not and the reason behind the phrase ‘Mujahideen Kashmir’ superimposed on the video, this fact-check establishes that it was shot in a police academy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Furthermore, multiple people tagged in the original video are also members of the KP Police, as evident from their Facebook profile.