With the situation remaining calm but tense in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A, there has been a concerted effort to portray that large-scale protests are going on in the state and Indian security forces are using brute force to contain the same. After several international media houses reported firing by police on protesters which was denied by Jammu and Kashmir police, several persons from Pakistan are older videos from other places to claim they are from Jammu and Kashmir.
Air Marshall Shahid Latif, a retired air marshal of the Pakistan Air Force, tweeted a video on 9th August claiming it shows how Indian occupation forces are firing straight bullets on unarmed civilians who were protesting against human rights violation in Jammu and Kashmir. He said it may be old or new, and criticised UN for remaining silent.
This video can be old or recent. The world must watch how Indian occupation forces are firing straight bullets on unarmed civilians who are out on streets against violation of the human rights in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Criminal silence of the UN has no justification. pic.twitter.com/NBqv3PH2Fl
— Air Marshall Shahid Latif – (Retd) (@AMShahidLatif) August 9, 2019
The video shows few policemen firing on a group of people standing on a middle of a street, and 3-4 persons fall to the ground after the firing. They are then taken away by security forces on stretchers to an ambulance.
The video has been shared by several Twitter users with the same claim, that captures India Army firing on unarmed protesters.
But the fact is, the video is not recent, it is not from Jammu and Kashmir, and most importantly, it does not show any real firing on protesters by police. The video actually shows a mock drill conducted by Jharkhand Police in Khunti. The video was uploaded on Youtube on 1 November 2017.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1i1sTTsXF8]
Although few people fell down and other ‘protesters’ escape after the firing, lots of people keep standing on both sides of the street watching what is going on. It is evident that they were watching the mock drill, if it was real firing, nobody would be standing calmly as there is a chance of getting hit by stray bullets. Moreover, there is a public announcement towards the end of the video, which makes it clear that it is a drill. The announcement says, “Let me repeat this once more. This is a demo through which Khunti Police has demonstrated that we are prepared and ready to deal with any situation”.
This is not the first time the Jharkhand police drill video was used as real incidents elsewhere. Last year also several people from Pakistan had shared the video claiming it to be from Jammu and Kashmir. The same video was also shared as police firing on farmers protesting in Madhya Pradesh.
