ISLAMABAD – A video of artillery fire next to a mountainous region has beenviewed thousands of times in multiple Facebook posts alongside a claim itshows the Indian army sending “greetings to Pakistan” ahead of the Hindufestival Diwali. The claim is false; the video shows an Indian army drillat a firing range near western Indian city of Nashik in Maharashtra state.
The 35-second video was published here link onFacebook on October 22, 2019. It has been viewed more than 1,500 times.
The post’s Hindi-language caption translates to English as: “Advance Diwaligreetings to Pakistan.”
Diwali link refers to aHindu festival.
Below is a screenshot of the misleading Facebook post:Screenshot of misleading Facebook post
The same video was also shared here link, herelink, here link and herelink on Facebook alongside a similar claim, and hasbeen viewed more than 1,400 times.
The claim is false; the video shows an Indian army drill at a firing rangein India’s western state of Maharashtra.
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes extracted using videoverification tool InVID found the same video was published in thislinkreportby Indian news channel Republic TV on June 28, 2019.
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“Showcasing the country’s military prowess, video footage of the IndianArmy firing the BM-21 Gradlink battery in Nasik’sDeolali has been accessed,” says the video caption.
Below is a screenshot of the report:(Screenshot of media report)
Deolalilinkisa small hill station in Maharashtra state in western India. It does notneighbour Pakistan.
According to Google Maps, Deolali is more than 660 kilometres (411 miles)away from the nearest land India-Pakistan land border at Kuwalalink.
WATCH video here:link