Authors
A Twitter user claimed that there were military clashes in eastern Ladakh recently. User with the account name Riffat Wani (@waniriffat) posted this tweet on 8 September with an image showing soldiers at work.
The archived version of the tweet can be viewed here.
The claim in context was shared by another user on Facebook as well.
Fact Check/ Verification
A reverse image search of the photograph in the claim led us to an October 2016 tweet from the official Twitter account of Northern Command, Indian Army (@NorthernComd_IA).
The tweet included four photographs from the “Joint Sino-Indian Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Exercise conducted by soldiers in Ladakh.” One of these photographs is identical to the image from the claim.
We also came across an article published on Rediff.com titled, “In a first, India, China hold joint army exercise in Jammu-Kashmir.” The photograph from the claim was included in this article.
In October 2016, India Today reported on this army exercise stating, “as part of the ongoing initiative to enhance interaction and cooperation between India and China, under the provisions of Border Defense Cooperation Agreement, 2013, the Indian and Chinese armies today held the second joint exercise “Sino-India Cooperation 2016”. This was a sequel to the first exercise held on February 6, 2016.”
“During the day long exercise on Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief (HADR) a simulated situation of earthquake striking an Indian Border village was painted, thereafter joint teams carried out rescue operations, evacuation and rendering medical assistance.”
This claim comes days after the Indian Defence Ministry in its 31 August press release stated that “PLA troops violated the previous consensus arrived at during military and diplomatic engagements during the ongoing standoff in Eastern Ladakh and carried out provocative military movements to change the status quo.”
A week later in another press release, the Indian army asserted that “at no stage has the Indian Army transgressed across the LAC or resorted to use of any aggressive means, including firing,” in response to China’s allegations.
Multiple Users, Same Name
Coming back to the user who tweeted the initial claim on India-China military clashes in eastern Ladakh recently, we found other accounts created with the same name (Riffat Wani) and profile picture on Facebook.
Apart from these, another Facebook account with the name Rifat Wani’s pinned post reads:
“Fake account on my name report please
https://www.facebook.com/112766173431906/posts/194222395286283/
https://www.facebook.com/fasial.kashmiri.3
There are many fake pages and accounts in my name which are being posted wrongly…. These people put posts on fake pages and accounts and make screenshots viral and people abuse me…. I have an official account There are 1 lakh followers and the page on which this post will be pinned is my page, I have no relation with other pages………… I have reported Facebook many times but Facebook is not removing those pages…. I have said many times before that if any news is posted on my page then it will be posted on my account as well.
And if that post is not on my wall, it means that fake news is being published in my name… for the past few days, they are being viral by posting fake news and taking screenshots of those who are being made viral from me There is no relation, this is being done only to harm my self… But in Quran Allah says, no doubt honor and disgrace are in the hands of Allah….. If Allah wills, all of them will be humiliated and humiliated. No matter how big the lie is, its age is very small…Riffat Dare”
Conclusion
The photograph attributed to the military clashes in eastern Ladakh is misleading. The photograph in context is in fact from the second “Joint Sino-Indian Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Exercise conducted by soldiers in Ladakh,” in 2016.
Result: Misplaced Context
Our Sources
Ministry of External Affairs, GOI
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