The people in the video are nomads from Iran, they have no links to Myanmar or Manipur
Claim
The viral tweet in Hindi roughly translates as “Thief route from Myanmar to Manipur How come these people come to India risking their lives. attributed to #ManipurViolence
Rating
Explanation
In the widely shared viral video, we can see some people climbing with the help of ropes and travelling through the hilly regions carrying their babies on their backs. The video showcases both men and women passing through some gorges in the valley area. Deep down the gorge, we can also see the water gushing here and there which looks muddy brown in colour. In this 2 minute 20-second video, what we see seems to be a family of people moving with the help of sticks and ropes through hilly terrain.
Many users on social media have shared this adventurous clip with the claim that these people have made a thief route from Myanmar to Manipur. The posts also mention “how come these people come to India by risking their lives to save their lives?” Some users even added the hashtag #Manipurviolence to this video which can be seen here, here and here. Come, let’s check how much veracity the claims hold.
*म्यान्मार से मणिपुर का चोर रास्ता बनाया है, कैसे आते जान बचाने जान की बाजी लगा के, भारत में ये लोग आते है..* pic.twitter.com/9pI6AZPet6
— Anil Sharma (@AnilSha89142589) August 11, 2023
म्यांमार से मणिपुर का चोर रास्ता..!
तो ऐसे घुसपैठ करते है ये सुआर…!!🤔#मणिपुर_हिंसा #मेवात pic.twitter.com/rgkzd8dXBc— RAMPAL SINGH (@RAMPALS48610642) August 10, 2023
What’s the truth ?
While we started the research using relevant keyframes, we came across this YouTube channel namely “DENA” which had the same matching visuals as seen in the viral video. When we dug a little deeper, we noticed the same video which was around 42- minutes and 35- seconds in length with the title, “Risk for life. Iranian nomadic family” and was published on 12 March 2023 with a description as “An Iranian nomadic family with three young children travels a difficult path to reach their destination”.
Then we looked into the description of the channel, which was like, “Welcome to Dana channel, Dana channel shows the life of Iranian nomads”. There are many such videos uploaded on this channel page which cover the nomadic mountain life of the people residing in Mount Dena, which is the sub-range within the Zargos Mountains located in Iran.
This same video is also uploaded on a TV channel’s Facebook page which is from Iraq namely “YARAN” which has a little lengthier version of this viral video with a 6-minute and 52-second timeline. Look below for the comparison from both videos with the same persons and similar costumes travelling in the same mountain region.
This shows one thing very clearly, the above video is not from Manipur and the people travelling through those mountains are nomadic Iranians and not Myanmarese as claimed by the social media users.
Why is this video viral now?
From, 3, May 2023 there is a severe violent clash between the two ethnic groups namely Meiteis and Kukis living in the hilly regions of Manipur. As part of conflicts, more than 100 lives have been claimed and many people have been displaced during this incident.
Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, while addressing this issue in the parliament on 9 August 2023, he said that all these issues are happening because the neighbouring country Myanmar is unstable and people from there are fleeing into Manipur through the borders. He even went on to blame the unrest in Myanmar as the major cause of this ethnic conflict.
So, now when we see the above viral video with the tall claims of people from Myanmar passing through the border of Manipur and at the same time our Home Minister has reportedly blamed the people of Manipur as Myanmarese a couple of days ago, this creates more confusion among the social media users. But in reality, the above viral video has no connection to either Myanmar or Manipur people.
Also Read: Mexico drug cartel horrific murder video has no connection to the ongoing Manipur violence.
Conclusion:
Therefore, through our intense research, we conclude that the above viral clipping has no links to either Myanmar or the Manipur people. Thus, the people in the video are nomads living in the mountain regions of Iran.
