Morphed image claims Pakistanis holding a banner offering to give Kashmir in exchange for Virat Kohli.
Rating
Claim
We Don’t want Kashmir!
Give us Virat Kohli 😃!!
Explanation
The men’s T20 World Cup tournament is currently underway in Australia. Arch-rivals India and Pakistan competed in an epic match on 23rd October 2022 in which India emerged victorious thanks to a brilliant performance by Virat Kohli. After the match is completed, there have been various tweets which claim Pakistanis were holding a sign which says “We don’t want Kashmir. Give us Virat Kohli”. Some of these tweets can be seen here, here, here and here.
What’s the truth?
This image of Pakistanis holding a banner along with Pakistani flags was originally published in an India Today article from August 2016 titled “Kashmir unrest: Youths raise pro-Pakistan slogans in the Valley”. In the original image, the banner says, “we want Azaadi”.
This image has been already photoshopped on various occasions in the past as well. In April 2020, we have already fact-checked a similar claim with the same photo going viral and back then the text was edited to include “We don’t want Kashmir. Give us Hydroxychloroquine.”
Interestingly, the very same edited image mentioning Virat Kohli trended in 2018 and 2019 as well which had been fact-checked by various fact-checkers. The 2018 and 2019 viral posts can be seen here and here respectively.
Conclusion
The viral image that is being shared on social media after India’s win over Pakistan in the T20 World Cup match is at least 4 years old and it is digitally altered from a 2016 image.
