Claim: Pakistan’s former minister Fawad Chaudhry has mocked India’s Chandrayaan-3 moon mission in a recent interview.
Fact: The clip is from May 2019, when Chaudhry commented on the disputes over sightings of the Ramadan and Eid moons in Pakistan as the Minister of Science and Technology. He has not given any remarks on India’s recent moon mission.
India’s space agency Indian Space Research Organisation, launched a rocket, Chandrayaan-3, on 14 July 2023 towards the moon’s south pole, according to a report by Reuters.
Fact or Fiction?
On 18 July 2023, the Indian publication Times of India reported that Fawad Chaudhry mocked India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission during an interview with a Pakistani TV channel.
“Controversy arises as Pakistan’s former Minister Fawad Chaudhry mocks India’s Chandrayaan-3 Mission in a viral video. Pakistan’s former minister, known for his critical remarks, sarcastically criticized ISRO’s Moon exploration mission. In a contradictory move, Chaudhry initially congratulated India but later mocked Chandrayaan-3. The mission was launched from Sriharikota, aiming for a soft landing on the uncharted South Pole of the Moon,” their Facebook post reads.
Times of India also carried the report on their website. The article contains a video in which Chaudhry can be heard saying, “We have a point of view in the Ministry of Science and Technology. We do not need to work that hard. Wherever the moon is, it is visible. Its location is known. It is known when the moon birth is taking place. Where it will be at what altitude, it is known exactly.”
Soch Fact Check found the claim to be false. A keyword search led us to a video posted on YouTube on 26 May 2019 by ARY News. “New 5 year lunar calendar unveiled by Minister for Science and Technology,” it is titled. Between the 2:40 to 2:49 time stamp, the former minister can be heard making the same remarks while responding to a question about the disputes over sightings of the Ramadan and Eid moons in Pakistan.
Hence, a four-year-old video has been wrongly linked to Chaudhry commenting on India’s space mission.
Virality
The claim was also shared by Economic Times and TechJuice.
It was posted here, here, here, here and here on Twitter.
Conclusion: Indian media wrongly linked a 2019 video of Fawad Chaudhry commenting about the disputes over sightings of the Ramadan and Eid moons in Pakistan to him mocking India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission. He did not comment on India’s latest space mission.
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