Claim: Canada, Australia, and Saudi Arabia announced at the 2023 OIC meeting that they wanted the people of Kashmir to attain freedom and condemned the Indian forces’ operations in Kashmir as oppressive. The Hindustan Times in India published articles expressing severe concerns regarding the alleged statement by Mohammad bin Salman’s government and countries like the UK, US, Canada, and Australia are cornering Narendra Modi for his record of human rights violence, according to a viral video.
Fact: The Hindustan Times did not report on such a statement, and recent coverage by the international media does not include reports of the UK, US, Canada, and Australia cornering Narendra Modi for his record of human rights violations.
On 23 September 2023, the Facebook page Bagga Facts uploaded a video (archive) which claimed that Saudi Arabia had announced a boycott of India and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the 2023 Organisation of Islamic Council (OIC) Summit. According to the video, Saudi Arabia condemned the Indian armed forces and claimed they were oppressive towards the people of Kashmir.
Furthermore, the video states that Indian news organisations, including the Hindustan Times, also reported Saudi Arabia’s statement at the OIC Summit and expressed shock and fear over Australia, the US, Canada, and now Saudi Arabia publicly boycotting the Indian government. These developments occurred in the aftermath of the assassination of Hardeep Singh, a Sikh separatist activist, in Canada, according to the claim.
The video further states that world is shunning Narendra Modi for human rights abuses and xenophobic hate crimes in India. It claimed that he will soon be eliminated like Saddam Hussain and Zia ul Haq as he does not have a God for whom he can perform sujood – an action performed by Muslims while praying.
Fact or Fiction?
This year’s OIC Summit had not happened at the time of this claim being published, as it is scheduled to begin on 20 October 2023 in Morocco, whereas the claim was posted on 23 September 2023. The video and its claims were published before the OIC Summit was even held, so the claim that Saudi Arabia had announced a boycott of India at this summit could not be false. The secretary general of OIC. however, last year issued a declaration which urged India to reverse its unilateral decisions regarding Kashmir, but it did not call for a boycott against India or Modi.
We also surveyed The Hindustan Times’ coverage using the keywords “Saudi Crown Prince”, “Narendra Modi”, and “Mohammed bin Salman” but the search did not yield any reports on the shock and fear in the aftermath of the Saudi Crown Prince’s statement. .
The video further alleges that Narendra Modi, the Indian Prime Minister, is being shunned by Western countries such as the UK, Australia, Canada, and the US.
This is not true. An article published on 20 September 2022 by the British news publication The Guardian notes the opposite, “London, Washington and Canberra have all been prioritising closer ties with New Delhi, seeing it not just as a strategic bulwark against the fast-rising China, but also as a partner in the economic isolation of Russia after the invasion of Ukraine.”
Another British newspaper, Financial Times, wrote in a 22 September report, “The US and its allies are cultivating India as an economic and diplomatic partner. But its prime minister’s authoritarian streak is becoming harder to ignore.”
Recent international news coverage makes it clear that countries like the US, UK, Canada and Australia are interested in good relations with India. While they do have concerns over Modi’s “authoritarian streak”, it has not impacted their efforts to strengthen relations.
Virality
The video was viewed 416,000 times and received more than 23,400 interactions on Facebook.
Conclusion: A viral video claiming that Saudi Arabia condemned the Indian armed forces for persecution in Kashmir in a statement is misleading.
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