In another cheap attempt to strengthen the claim of killing hundreds of “terrorists” in Balakot, India’s media has come up with a doctored video from Pakistan to save the reputation of neighbouring country’s air force.
On Wednesday, India’s premier news agency ANI cited a US-based activist as claiming that “bodies of more than 200 militants were shifted to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from Balakot” following the IAF airstrikes.
The video, which has been viewed thousands of times on Twitter, purports to show a Pakistan military officer allegedly admitting to “martyrdom of more than 200 terrorists” during Indian strike on Balakot.
#Pakistan military officer admits to “martyrdom” of more than 200 militants during Indian strike on #Balakot. Calls the terrorists Mujahid who receive special favors/ sustenance from Allah as they fight to support PAK government [against enemies]. Vows to support families pic.twitter.com/yzcCgCEbmu
— #SengeSering ས།ཚ། (@SengeHSering) March 13, 2019
“Pakistan military officer admits to ‘martyrdom’ of more than 200 militants during Indian strike on Balakot. Calls the terrorists Mujahid, who receive special favours/sustenance from Allah as they fight to support Pak government [against enemies]. Vows to support families,” Senge Hasnan Sering tweeted.
However, it has now been proven that the video is from the funeral of a Pak soldier named Havaldar Abdul Rab from DG Khan, and is carefully cropped in a way that it doesn’t show up on most OSINT video/image search tools.
Havaldar Abdul Rab embraced martyrdom after sustaining injuries in Indian shelling along the Line of Control (LoC) at Nakyal sector along with another soldier named Naik Khurram in the first week of March 2019.
India and Pakistan are amidst their biggest stand-off in many years, with the United States and other global powers mediating to de-escalate tensions between arch-foes who have fought three wars since their independence from British colonial rule in 1947.
