Viral: Pakistani child artist claimed to be son of slain Indian Army officer

“This is an Army Officer’s son. His father died in an operation against militants. His mother died of shock on hearing the news. He is studying in a boarding Army Public School. Look at his confidence”. Along with this message is circulating a video of a young boy singing. The video has since earlier this month, with a bulk of individual users sharing it in the last 24 hours.

The video was viral last year in January as well. It was posted by the Facebook page Indian Army- Service Before Self which has over 5,00,000 followers. The page has now been taken down but the video was shared almost 3,00,000 times by social media users, many of whom were overwhelmed by its strong nationalistic fervour.

It was also uploaded on YouTube in 2018 with the identical narrative.

Video of a Pakistani child artist

It so happens that the child is not the son of a slain Indian Army officer. In fact, he is not Indian. His name is Ghulam-e-Murtaza and he is a child artist from Pakistan. Also, his parents are alive. This was clarified by the father of the child himself, in the same thread, who said, “This boy is my son. His name is Ghulam-e-Murtaza. I am alive. And I am standing with my son even my Father is playing violin on stage. Three generations ALHAMDULILLAH. And I am proud Pakistani.”

The video was uploaded on Youtube in December 2015. Young Ghulam-e-Murtaza is singing the song ‘Baba mere…’ which was a tribute to the victims of the terror attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar in 2014 in which over 140 people were killed. Murtaza had frequently appeared on television channels in Pakistan in the aftermath of the attack, performing the song.

Murtaza’s official Facebook page can be accessed here.

It has been observed that posts with nationalistic themes are hugely popular on social media. Pages and groups about the army usually have lakhs of followers and regularly share questionable content.