After Indian government took the historic decision to fully integrate Jammu and Kashmir into India by abrogating Articles 370 and 35A, Pakistan has been engaging in a misinformation campaign to claim that there are widespread protests against the decision. Several influential persons and ordinary social media users from Pakistan had shared several old videos and fake news claiming they show atrocities of Indian security forces against Kashmiri protesters.
As part of that misinformation campaign, several social media users posted a video clip on Twitter today claiming that is shows granddaughter Maharaj Hari Singh speaking against the Indian government.
#Khalistan Brilliantly explained. Very interesting perspective from the horses mouth!
Grand daughter of Maharaja Hari Singh, last Dogra sikh ruler of Jammu and Kashmir???? pic.twitter.com/2FXHvd1HbI
— Zaheer Sumra (@sumraali) August 13, 2019
Those who have been blaming Nehru for #Kashmir should know that it was because of his ability to negotiate, that today we have Kashmir with India
Grand daughter of Maharaja Hari Singh, last Dogra sikh ruler of Jammu and Kashmir@narendramodi ji listen to her pic.twitter.com/wp5ExfMOlQ
— PRK (@PadmaRK_1) August 14, 2019
This is the very serious issue. Either BJP Gov. is telling a lie to the nation or grand daughter of late Hari Singh,the last Dogra Ruler of J&K. The Scrapping of 370 is thus betrayal of the people of valley and country at large. The credibility of the govt. is at Stake. pic.twitter.com/Krp44TZj1v
— Irfan Khan( Alig.) (@IrfanKh95841851) August 13, 2019
In the video, a woman can be addressing a meeting where she argues that Maharaja Hari Singh agreed to join independent India as a sovereign state. Maharaja Hari Singh was the ruler of Jammu and Kashmir at the time of independence, and he had signed the Instrument of Accession with India.
But contrary to claims made by several Pakistanis, the woman in the video is not the granddaughter of Hari Singh. The woman presenting the separatist lecture in the video is actually Prof. Hameeda Nayeem, a professor at Kashmir University. Hammeda is the wife of Hurriyat leader Nayeem Ahmad Khan.
The video clip used is from a speech Hameeda Nayeem gave in Aligarh Muslim University last year. In the full video of the speech embedded below, the relevant portion can be seen from 23rd minute onward.
Soon after the video was shared on social media platforms claiming to be granddaughter of Maharaja Hari Singh, it caught the attention of Vikramaditya Singh, the grandson of Hari Singh. He tweeted that his sister and the real granddaughter of Maharaja Hari Singh is Dr. Jyotsna Singh, not the woman seen in the video. He also asked people to ignore the fake/malicious video.
Grand daughter of Maharaja Hari Singh Ji of Jammu & Kashmir is my sister, Dr. Jyotsna Singh. This is NOT her. Kindly ignore this fake/ malicious video. @DAkkhar @VoiceofDogras https://t.co/11pHWLLFsA
— Vikramaditya Singh (@vikramaditya_JK) August 13, 2019
Jyotsna Singh is also known as Jyoti Singh, and a 2016 interview with her available on Youtube shows that she looks very different from Hameeda Nayeem. This means its not a case of mistaken identity, but deliberate use of old video of different person to spread a malicious campaign to suggest the Maharaja Hari Singh’s family is opposing the abrogation of Article 370. But the fact is, Dr. Karan Singh, son Maharaja Hari Singh, has already welcomed the move by Modi government.
