2015 Republic Day Indo-Pak Gesture Viral As Recent

A four-year-old video showing the Indian Army and Pakistan Army exchanging sweets at the Line of Control (LoC) on the occasion of Republic Day is viral on social media.

The video is being shared in light of Diwali when the two armies have traditionally exchanged sweets to mark the festival, but the same was cancelled this year given the skirmishes between the two countries.

The viral video from the 66th Republic Day (2015) shows officials from the Indian and Pakistan armies greeting each other and exchanging sweets at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir. The misleading claim viral on Facebook is, "Indian & Pakistani army exchanged mithai & greetings. no godi media channels has time to show this to the nation. How many newspapers had it on the front page? Drum-beating, chest-thumping Mr 56 will sacrifice any number of lives for political gain before 2024. BEWARE !!!!"

The caption claims that the armies of the two countries are exchanging sweets and are friendly with each other but the media claims otherwise.

FACT CHECK

A reverse image search for a keyframe from the video showed us results from 2015 when the Pakistan army and Indian army exchanged baskets of sweets at the Kaman post in Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir.

A story published in the Business Standard on January 26, 2015 says, "Indian and Pakistani troops along the Line of Control (LoC) exchanged sweets on the occasion of 66th Republic Day on Monday. A unit of 12 Infantry Brigade of the Army exchanged sweets with their Pakistan counterparts at Kaman Post in Uri sector on Srinagar-Muzaffarabad Road."

A search for the upload date of the Business Standard story shows January 26, 2015. The story also published the same video as in the viral posts.

A picture from the same event in Amar Ujala, shows the same officers as in the viral video.

A news story by IANS said the Indian Army cancelled the tradition after Pakistan violated the ceasefire near the LoC in Poonch district. The tradition was continued at the Attari Bagh post.

BOOM was not able to independently verify if the tradition was cancelled at the Kaman post in Uri. We have contacted the Indian Army for a response and the story will be updated accordingly.