As deadly protests rocked Pakistan-administered Kashmir, images of crowds massed in the streets circulated in social media posts, falsely linking them to the unrest. In fact, the video shows an election rally in India led by an opposition politician Priyanka Gandhi.
“Muzaffarabad Revolution”, says a document in Urdu language publish on X, formerly Twitter, referring to the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
The post, which has racked up more than 120,000 views, shows a video of a crowd and a convoy of vehicles parading down a street.
The video was circulated in similar posts on Facebook and X here, here It is here.
Four people were killed in protests against the rising cost of living in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, which ended on May 14 after organizers accepted an offer of financial assistance from the government.
The Himalayan region is divided between India and Pakistan, who claim it in full.
Pakistan recently suffered a major financial crisis that saw imports blocked, inflation soar and the rupee plummet against the dollar.
However, inflation declined steadily and the exchange rate stabilized, with the help of an agreement from the International Monetary Fund.
Election rally in India
A reverse image search and keyword searches on Google and YouTube found the footage in a YouTube video who said it was filmed in India, not Pakistan (archived link).
According to Indian media platform News Express, the images show a rally by the opposition Indian Congress party ahead of national elections in April.
The event in Saharanpur in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh was led by Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, the News Express said.
“Huge crowd at Priyanka Gandhi’s road show in Saharanpur,” reads the Hindi text at the top of the video.
The Congress Party’s Kerala chapter also posted the filming at X on April 17, 2024 with the caption: “Smt (Mrs.) @priyankagandhi’roadshow in Saharanpur, UP” (archived link).
Gandhi can be seen wearing a pink sari and sitting on the roof of a white car in video footage of the rally published by Indian news channel NDTV (archived link).
Below is a comparison of screenshots of the video shared in fake posts (left) and the NDTV video (right), with Gandhi highlighted by AFP:
AFP previously debunked false posts linked to protests in Pakistan-administered Kashmir here.
