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| - Fact Check: Were Indian flags waved at a political rally in Pakistan?
Pictures claiming that an Indian flag was raised at a recent opposition rally in Pakistans's Karachi have been doing rounds on social media.
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India Today Fact Check
The picture is morphed. A massive demonstration against the Imran Khan government was held on October 18 in Karachi, but no Indian flag was waved.
Amid the political turmoil in Pakistan, a picture of the Indian flag in a sea of crowd is going viral on social media with the claim that the Tricolour was waved at a political rally organised by opponents of Imran Khan in Karachi.
The caption in Hindi superimposed on the picture translates to, "For 70 years, we were teased as Pakistani flags were waved at us. Now, in a rally in Karachi, the Indian flag was waved. Jai Hind".
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the claim to be false. This is a morphed image from a mass demonstration held in Karachi by opposition parties in Pakistan on October 18.
Some verified Twitter handles have also shared the picture. The archived versions can be seen here, here and here.
AFWA probe
A closer look at the viral image shows that the Tricolour is raised on a white pole and not held by anybody. Using reverse image search, we found similar images of the protest carried by several media houses and social media handles in Pakistan. However, none of these images had the Indian flag as seen in the viral picture.
On October 19, a similar image of the mass rally was carried by the "Dawn" in an article titled: 'Stop using army to hide own failures,' Maryam tells PM Imran at PDM's power show in Karachi.
According to the report, the picture is of a major gathering in Karachi organised by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an alliance comprising 11 Opposition parties. The gathering was held on October 18, in which thousands of people participated, says the report.
We did a close comparison of the viral image with the image carried by "Dawn" and found the Tricolour missing in the original image.
Similar images were also carried by Indian media houses such as "The Quint" and "News Click", and uploaded on the verified Facebook page of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz).
However, we could not find a Tricolour in any of these images. Also, no media report said an Indian flag was raised in Karachi during the October 18 protest.
Many Indian media houses, including "India Today" had published videos of the rally.
AFWA also reached out to Karachi journalist Tauseef Raza Malik, who was covering the protest rally at Bagh-i-Jinnah. Malik confirmed to us that no Indian flag was raised at the gathering.
"On October 18, I was at the venue reporting the rally. There wasn't anything close to an Indian flag there. Also, someone waving an Indian flag during the anti-government demonstration would have definitely made news. The other Tricolour flags you can see in the image are of Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party," Malik said.
Hence, it is clear that the viral image is morphed and no Indian flag was raised during anti-government demonstrations in Pakistan.
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