Manjinder Sirsa Tweets Old Video Of Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen Militants Sneaking Into Kashmir

Akali Dal MLA Manjinder S Sirsa tweeted on Thursday a one-year old video militants belonging to banned terrorist group Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen entering Kashmir, and claimed the clip was new.

The politician shared the undated video tagging @adgpi - the official handle of the Indian Army. Sirsa claimed the video was uploaded to the internet recently and urged netizens to help in bringing it to the attention of the Indian Army.

The tweet is misleading as it comes at a time when misinformation around Jammu & Kashmir is escalating on the back of the Indian government's shock announcement to abrogate Article 370 and revoke the region's special status.

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The 2.20 second video shows armed terrorists emerging out of a forest with their heads and faces covered. A person recording the video asks each of the militants their name and their purpose for coming to Kashmir. The men reply saying their purpose is to fight Indian security forces and "liberate" Kashmir.

Click here to view an archived version of the tweet.

In the video, the terrorists can be heard saying ' Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen'.

Using a text search of 'Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen' BOOM found the same video uploaded to YouTube by news channel Times Now in July 2018.

While it is not clear when the video was shot, the same men wearing the same clothes and saying the same things can be spotted in the video uploaded by Times Now.

India's Home Ministry banned the J&K based group under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for promoting terrorism and radicalising and recruiting youth for terrorist activities in India, the Hindu reported in February.

“The TuM carried out a number of terrorist attacks besides subversive acts, namely grenade attacks, weapons snatching incidents, supporting other terrorist outfits such as Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), etc. in terms of financial and logistic support in the recent past, " the notification from the Home Ministry said.

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