Did Pakistani Cricket Fans Say, 'We Don't Want Kashmir, Give Us Virat Kohli'?
The banner in the original image reads, "We Want Azaadi", and is taken during a protest in Kashmir in August 2016
An image of Kashmiri protestors holding Pakistan flags and demanding 'Azaadi' has been photoshopped to falsely claim that they are Pakistani cricket fans holding banners of 'We don't want Kashmir, give us Virat Kolhi'. The image is being shared after India defeated Pakistan in a recent match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 with a false claim that Pakistani fan want Indian cricket team captain Kohli instead of Kashmir.
BOOM found that the original image is from 2016 and shows protestors in Kashmir displaying Pakistan flag and banners demanding 'freedom'.
Writer and academic Madhu Kishwar, who has in the past shared fake news tweeted the same photo with the caption, "At one time Pakistanis used to chant, "Madhuri de do, POK bhi le lo". New ambitions, new frustrations." BOOM has previously debunked Kishwar's post here.
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the banner shown in the viral image is photoshopped and the people holding it are protestors from Kashmir, not Pakistani Cricket fans.
A reverse image search using the Russian search engine Yandex led us to an August 2016 article published in India Today about a demonstration in Kashmir.
The story titled, "Kashmir unrest: Youths raise pro-Pakistan slogans in the Valley" published a photo showing the protestors holding Pakistani flags and Pro-Pakistan banners in their hands.
The banner in the original picture reads, "We Want Azadi" and not
"We don't want Kashmir, give us Virat Kohli" which has been photoshopped on it.
Same Photoshopped Image Viral In 2018
The viral photoshop image has been circulating on social media before also as evident by this 2018 tweet with the same photoshopped image.
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