An old video from May 2024 of local residents in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) pelting stones at Pakistani Rangers’ vehicles is being shared on social media with the false claim that it shows an attack on Hindu pilgrims traveling to the Vaishno Devi temple in Jammu and Kashmir.
Pilgrimage to the Vaishno Devi shrine in Katra, Jammu and Kashmir, was temporarily suspended during the recent India-Pakistan conflict but later resumed following a ceasefire between the two countries. After flight operations were restored at 32 airports, including Jammu and Srinagar, helicopter services from Katra to Sanjichhat near the holy shrine were also resumed on May 14, 2025.
In the video, a group of men can be seen pelting stones at a convoy of vehicles from a hilltop. The video is being shared on Instagram with a caption in Telugu, which, when translated to English reads, “On the way to Vaishno Devi.”
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FACT-CHECK: Old Video From PoK Peddled As Attack On Hindu Pilgrims In Jammu & Kashmir
BOOM found that the viral video video is from Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), when protesters had pelted stones at Pakistani Rangers’ vehicles in May 2024.
Using keyframes from the viral video, we ran a reverse image search using Google Lens which results showed that the video is old dating back to May 2024.
We found an Instagram post with the same viral video which was posted on May 13, 2024, with the caption mentioning that it showed locals in Muzaffarabad, PoK pelting stones at Pakistani rangers.
Taking a cue from the caption, we used a VPN to search for Pakistani news reports related to the incident on YouTube and Google using the keywords “Pak Rangers stone pelting May 2024.”
This led us to reports by Pakistani outlets such as Dawn and Geo News Urdu, which had covered the protests in PoK against hikes in electricity and flour prices. The reports included the same visuals, confirming that protesters had pelted stones at Pakistani Rangers’ vehicles and clashed with Pakistani security forces.
A Dawn video report on the incident had the same video in the report with the caption, "Stone Pelting on Rangers from Mountains in Azad Kashmir". This can be seen below:
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We also found a report by Geo News Urdu covering the May 2024 protests in PoK, which stated that stones were hurled at Pakistani Rangers’ vehicles during the demonstrations in PoK. (Click here to view)
Additionally, there were also reports in Indian news outlets including India Today and Kashmir Times mentioning protesters throwing stones at Pakistani rangers' vehicles in PoK during the protests back then.
A Reddit post from May 2024 that shared the viral video showing stones being thrown at Pakistani Rangers in PoK, had comments mentioning that the video was shot in Lohar Gali, Muzaffarabad. Taking this hint, we geo-located the video using Google Maps and confirmed that the location matches.
This can be seen below
