Recently a video went viral on social media showing Indian and Pakistani soldiers exchanging sweets and gifts. Sharing the video on social media, users are claiming that the video shows the Diwali celebrations at the Indo-Pak border. Sharing the video on Facebook, a user wrote, “Diwali Celebration in India Vs Pakistan Border”.
Facebook Link | Archived Link.
Similar posts can be seen here and here. Archived Link.
However, as we investigated, we came to know that the video is old and unrelated to the Diwali festival. Here’s the fact check.
Fact Check
Going through the video, we could hear the officers greeting each other. The Pakistani officer said, “Congratulations on your 66th Republic Day”. While exchanging the sweets and gifts, the Pakistani officer said, “…so this the token from our side on Republic Day…”
Taking this clue, we conducted a relevant keyword search. This led us to a report published in The Business Standard on 26 January 2015 with the headline, “India Pakistan exchange sweets on Republic Day”. The video report contained the viral clip. According to the report, the video showed a sweets exchange ceremony at the Indo-Pak border by the Indian and Pakistani armies on the occasion of India’s Republic Day in 2015.
Please read here. Archived Link.
Moving forward, we found a video report by “Headlines Today”. The viral clip could be seen in the report. The video was uploaded on 26 January 2015. According to the report, “Indian and Pakistani soldiers greeted each other by exchanging sweets on the occasion of 66th Republic Day of India at the Aman Setu, Uri sector.”
Further, we found a tweet from ANI on 26 January 2015. The tweet contained images similar to the screenshot from the viral video, and the caption was, “Kaman Setu,Uri (J&K): Sweets exchange ceremony between Indian & Pak Army on the occasion of 66th Republic Day”.
This makes it clear that the viral video is old and not related to the Diwali festival.
Conclusion
From our investigation, we can say that the claim is False. The viral video shows a sweets exchange ceremony by the Indian and Pakistani soldiers, at Aman Setu, Uri Sector, in the year 2015 on the occasion of the 66th Republic Day of India. This has nothing to do with the Diwali festival.
Title:Old Video From Republic Day Going Viral Linking To Diwali Celebrations.
Fact Check By: Debanjana BaishyaResult: False
