Claim: A video shared on social media claims to show Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa attending Independence day celebrations at the Pakistan High Commission in London, where national song Dil Dil Pakistan was performed by Ukrainian singer Nataliya Shmarenkova.
Fact: The caption is false and misleading. The video is not from the Pakistan High Commission in London but is from a 2021 event organized by the Pakistan Embassy in Ukraine.
On 16 August 2022, a video was shared on social media with the caption “COAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa attended Independence day celebrations at Pakistan High Commission in London. National song Dil Dil Pakistan was performed by Ukrainian singer Nataliya Shmarenkova. #independenceday2022”
The video surfaced after General Bajwa’s recent visit to the UK’s Royal Military College, Sandhurst, during the 75th Independence Day of Pakistan.
Fact or Fiction?
The 2-minute-long video features Ukrainian singer Kamaliya Zahoor singing Dil Dil Pakistan. The singer, who was previously known as Nataliya Shmarenkova, changed her name after marrying British-Pakistani business magnate Muhammad Zahoor. The video shows General Bajwa sitting next to Pakistan’s Ambassador to Ukraine, Noel Khokar.
However, the video is not from August 2022 but from an event that occurred a year ago. Journalist Murtaza Ali Shah also debunked the claim stating that “this is an old video recorded in Ukraine during visit of COAS.”
Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, also shared pictures of Pakistan’s 75th Independence Day celebrations organised at the Pakistan High Commission in London. The images do not show General Bajwa or the Ukrainian singer.
The BBC‘s coverage of the Independence Day ceremony also did not mention General Bajwa being in attendance.
Soch Fact Check conducted a keyframe search and found a similar 4-minute-long video on the YouTube channel of the Pakistan Embassy in Ukraine. The video, titled “Dil Dil Pakistan”, shows Kamaliya Zahoor singing and was uploaded on 13 August 2021.
It is possible that the video was taken during the COAS’s May 2021 visit to Ukraine but was uploaded to YouTube by the Pakistan Embassy in Ukraine on the occasion of Pakistan’s Independence Day 2021.
Virality
The video shared by the Facebook page China Pakistan Economic Corridor – CPEC received 10,000 views, 500 likes, and 173 comments between 15 August – 23 August 2022.
Different versions of the similar video with a similar claim have been shared here, here, here, here, here, here and here on Facebook.
Indian news website The Print also shared the false news with the same video on 15 August 2022.
Conclusion: Chief of Army Staff General Bajwa went to the UK on an official visit but the video circulating of him attending the Independence Day event at the Pakistan High Commission in London is misleading and false.