Authors
A mass protest rally was held in Karachi last week by the Pakistan Democratic Movement, an alliance formed by opposition parties against the current Imran Khan-led government. Since then an image with claims that the Indian tricolour flag is being waved at the rally is widely circulating on social media platforms.
Several users on Twitter shared similar claims.
Fact Check/ Verification
Last Sunday’s protest rally in Karachi by opposition parties was the second in a series as the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) held a protest campaign in Gujranwala on 16 October.
An article published by Dawn titled, “PDM stages second tour de force in Karachi,” detailed how the “alliance stuck to its aggressive tone and staged a massive power show in Karachi on Sunday with Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz.”
During further search related to Pakistan’s political parties on Twitter, we came across images of PDM’s recent rally in Karachi. However, we could not see the Indian tricolour flag in the images.
On 18 October, a video of the PDM jalsa in Karachi tweeted by Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) also did not show the Indian tricolour.
Additionally, videos published by multiple news organisations did not include the Indian flag in them.
Apart from these, we could not find any credible evidence to support the claim that the Indian flag was waved at the rally.
However, we found that Pakistan Awami Tehreek’s flag, a political party in Pakistan, looks similar to the Indian flag.
On taking a closer look at the viral images as well those from the recent rally, it looks like the Indian tricolour flag has been edited into the original rally photographs.
Newschecker debunked similar claims in a Hindi factcheck.
Conclusion
Our research makes it clear that the Indian tricolour flag was not waved at the recent rally in Karachi. Photographs from the rally have been edited to spread fake news on social media platforms.
Result: False
Our Sources
Dawn: https://www.dawn.com/news/1585757/pdm-stages-second-tour-de-force-in-karachi
Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz): https://twitter.com/pmln_org/status/1317851727127740416?s=20
Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz): https://twitter.com/pmln_org/status/1317881429695504385?s=20
Ruptly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cT9-TC4_hA
Latestly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=palqxUuHXaQ
Pakistan Awami Tehreek: https://www.pat.com.pk/english/tid/13660/Manifesto-of-PAT-Pakistan-Awami-Tehreek-Dr-Tahir-ul-Qadri-vision-revolution-inqilab-change-Pakistan-corrupt-system-political.html
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