Claim: Video shows a feud between worshippers from two different sects at a mosque in Pakistan.
Fact: The claim is misleading because the video is not from Pakistan but Bangladesh.
On 22 September 2024, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Maryland branch president, Waqar Khan shared a video with the caption,
اس ہفتے پاکستان میں 3 لوگ کو توہین رسالت کا الزام لگا کر موت کے گھاٹ اُتار دیا گیا
دوسری طرف مسجد میں بریلوی اور دیوبندیوں نے ایک دوسرے پر جوتیاں مُکے صرف اس بات پر چلا دیے کہ نماز ہمارے طریقے سے ہو گی
کیا اللہ کے گھر میں قرآنی اقتسابات کی موجودگی میں یہ توہین رسالت نہیں ہے
Translated [This week in Pakistan, 3 people were executed for blasphemy.
On the other hand, in the mosque, Barelvis and Deobandis threw their shoes at each other just because the prayers would be done in our way. Isn’t this blasphemy in the presence of Qur’anic quotes in the House of Allah?]
Background
On 18 September, police arrested Dr Shah Nawaz Kunbhar for allegedly sharing blasphemous posts on social media. Soon after, the Sindh police claimed that Dr Kunbhar was killed in a police encounter, adding that another suspect who was accompanying him managed to escape from the encounter site. His body was also snatched and burned when his family was taking it home for the funeral. However, after the investigation into the matter, the government has claimed that the police is responsible for murdering Dr Shah Nawaz.
In another news, a policeman opened fire inside a police station in Quetta, a city in Balochistan province, on 12 September, killing a suspect held on accusations of blasphemy. These two incidents marked the extrajudicial killings of suspects in police custody before they were charged.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check investigated the video after a user on the post mentioned that the video is from Bangladesh. The reverse search on the video’s keyframes led to a Reddit post published on 20 September. The same video as that of the viral post was featured in the post, and the username suggested that the user is from Bangladesh. The post’s caption read, “At Baitul Mukarram national mosque. It happened today, don’t know the whole story yet.”
Furthermore, taking a cue from this we did a keyword search “Bangladesh, clash and mosque” on Google which led to a news report from Bangladeshi outlet Daily Bangladesh, with the headline, “2 groups clash in Baitul Mukarram, 3 injured”. The article reads that the incident happened between supporters of the former Khatib (narrator of sermons) and the current Imam (prayer leader) at the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque.
WION, an Indian news outlet also reported on the incident and included the same clip of the clash in their YouTube video-report from 21 September 2024. It reported that the incident happened when the former Khatib returned to the mosque after spending days in hiding following the resignation of Sheikh Hasina Wazed. He tried to snatch the mic forcefully from the new Imam and clashes erupted between their supporters.
Therefore, Soch Fact Check concludes that the video does not show a clash at a mosque in Pakistan. It is actually from Bangladesh.
Virality
The viral video received 289.6k views, 4,700 likes and 2,300 reposts on X. The archived versions can be seen here, here and here.
It was also shared here and here on Facebook.
Conclusion: A video circulating on social media does not show a feud between two sects at a mosque in Pakistan. It actually shows a clash between supporters of the former and current Imam of the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque in Bangladesh.
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Background image in cover photo: Getty Images
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