A video showing a man speaking to a news anchor is viral with captions falsely claiming that the clip shows a Pakistani man speaking about the 'Kashmiri Pandit genocide' on a Pakistani television channel.
The clip is also being shared with another claim that 'a Kashmiri Muslim said sorry for the genocide of Kashmiri Hindus on a Pakistani channel.'
BOOM found that the claim is false and the video was aired on a Kashmiri TV channel.
Film director Vivek Agnihotri shared the same video claiming that a young Kashmiri Muslim is saying "sorry for the Genocide to all Kashmiri Hindus" on a Pakistani channel. The director, however, later tweeted asking about the veracity of the video.
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The video is viral in the backdrop of the recently released film The Kashmir Files. The film has created a lot of buzz and has triggered a flurry of misinformation.
The viral video shows a man speaking to a news anchor. Speaking in Hindi, the man can be heard saying he was witness to the first major mass massacre of Kashmiri Pandits on 21 March, 1997. In the later part, he can be heard saying, "we should collectively apologise to the Kashmiri Pandits for the wrongs of the past."
Vivek Agnihotri tweeted the video with a caption reading 'This young Kashmiri Muslim is saying "sorry for the Genocide to all Kashmiri Hindus" on a Pakistani channel. Acknowledging the Genocide and saying sorry is the first step to #RightToJustice. If someone knows this young man, Pl send my love and thanks to him'.
Agnihotri later replied to the video saying, "I am told this is Kashmiri channel. Can someone confirm please? If true, I am sorry for misunderstanding."
The video is being shared on Facebook with similar captions.
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Fact Check
BOOM did a reverse image search on a keyframe of the video and found the same tweeted by journalist Aditya Raj Kaul on March 16, 2022 with a caption reading 'Kashmiri Muslim activist @Javedbeigh says Kashmiri Muslims should confess to their crime of genocide of Kashmiri Pandits and publicly apologise. Javed is witness to 1997 massacre of Kashmiri Hindus. Collective apology for crimes against humanity need of the hour. #TheKashmirFiles'.
Kaul had tagged the person seen in the video - Kashmiri Muslim activist Javed Beigh - in his tweet.
We checked Javed Beigh's Twitter handle and found a tweet with the same video.
Beigh tweeted 'Dear Friends I am sharing video of my opinion that I expressed in Hindi on @AnnNewsKashmir on #TheKashmirFiles movie, brutal murder of our Kashmiri Pundit sister Girija Tikoo & unfortunate tragedy of forced exodus of our Kashmiri Pundit biradari. Sangrampora Beerwah Massacre'.
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Beigh has tagged ANN News Kashmir in his tweet. According to his Twitter profile, Beigh lives in Jammu and Kashmir and is the general secretary of People's Democratic Front (Secular).
BOOM checked the YouTube channel of ANN Kashmir and found that Beigh's interview was uploaded on the channel on March 15, 2022. The title with the video reads 'Kashmiri Muslims Equally Responsible For Killing Of Kashmiri Pandita's During 1990:- Javed beigh'.
The About section of the ANN News channel reads 'ANN, is a commercial television news network in INDIA run by 'South Asia News Network' Pvt. Ltd. Corporation. ANN is the broadcast supplier of news program to all ANN-affiliated stations. It also operates the 24-hour cable Tv news channel'.
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