Vehicles driving over Indian flag in Pakistan peddled as incident in Kerala

By: Annet Preethi Furtado
July 14 2023

Share Article:

Context

A video has been circulating on social media depicting vehicles driving over an Indian national flag that is taped to a road. The posts claim that the incident occurred in Kerala and makes calls to denounce the act by widely sharing the video. Several versions of the video with durations ranging from 45 seconds to four minutes and 51 seconds have been shared across multiple social media platforms. One such 45-second video on Twitter was accompanied by a Hindi caption, a translation of which read: "Watch this video from Kerala and forward it worldwide now. There is no benefit in forwarding after six months." 

In the video, people are standing on both sides of a road; some waving the Pakistani flags while the song "Nara-e-Takbeer, Allahu-Akbar" plays in the background. Further, the Indian national flag is taped to the road, and many vehicles, such as autorickshaws or three-wheelers, cars, and motorcycles, are seen driving over it. At one point, some individuals can also be seen walking over the flag.

However, contrary to the claim, the viral video captures an incident in Pakistan.

In Fact

On conducting a reverse image search on one of the keyframes from the viral video, we found a Twitter post dated March 10, 2020, that featured the same video, indicating it is at least three years old. The post stated that the incident occurred in Pakistan.

After a detailed analysis of the video, it is evident that the video is not from Kerala but rather from Karachi, Pakistan. 

One notable aspect of the viral video was the presence of several autorickshaws with a unique combination of brown and beige colors, a common feature seen on Pakistani rickshaws. However. black and yellow-colored autorickshaws are commonly found in Kerala.

Further, at the three-minute 38-second mark of the longer version of the video circulating on Facebook, we noticed a white van with 'The Hunar Foundation' written across its side and a contact number. While not all the digits were legible, the number appeared to begin with "0336...". To gather more information, we conducted a keyword search and discovered that The Hunar Foundation is based in Karachi.

We then found the official contact number of the organization on their website’s "Contact Us" page. The number provided for their Donor Relations department was listed as 0336-8288777, similar to the number displayed on the side of the van. 

Further, at the beginning of the viral video, we also noticed a shop prominently displaying the name 'Sanam.' Taking a cue from this, we came across several websites about a 'Sanam Boutique' store in Karachi. The store's name and logo, as depicted on these websites, closely resembled the one observed in the viral video. These websites confirmed that the 'Sanam Boutique' store is situated on Tariq Road in Karachi.

To corroborate our findings, we searched for this specific outlet on Google Maps. We geo-located the place on Google Street View and explored the shop's surroundings, which closely resembled the locality seen in the viral video. Additionally, we observed that a tall white building visible in the viral video was situated in the same lane, a few buildings ahead. 

Although the exact reason for the incident depicted in the viral video remains unclear, we can confirm that it occurred at Tariq Road in Karachi, Pakistan.

The Verdict

The viral video, which has been falsely attributed to a desecration of the national flag in Kerala, actually depicts an incident in Pakistan. Furthermore, the video is not recent but at least three years old. Therefore, we have marked the claim as false.