Fact Check: ANI's video of "Pak 'Accepting' Balakot Deaths" was doctored; Indian media runs story
New Delhi: Days after a video surfaced by news agency ANI was carried by various media houses, claiming that a former Pakistani diplomat had admitted that India carried out Balakot Airstrike and more than 300 people were killed in the attack, a fact-check by Alt News has revealed that the video clip that the news was based on was manipulated.
Several media houses including India Today, Republic, and others had carried the report by news agency ANI on former Pakistani diplomat “Agha Hilaly” admitting on the Pakistani News Channel debate that 300 terrorists had died in the Balakot Airstrike on February 26, 2019.
The report said: "The admission by the former Pakistani diplomat, who regularly takes the Pakistan Army side in TV debates, goes against the zero casualties claim made by Islamabad at that time."
"India crossed the international border and did an act of war in which at least 300 were reported dead. Our target was different from theirs. We targeted their high command. That was our legitimate target because they are men of the military. We subconsciously accepted that a surgical strike -- a limited action -- did not result in any casualty. Now we have subconsciously told them that, whatever they will do, we'll do only that much and won't escalate," ANI quoted "Agha Hilaly" as saying.
But a fact-check by "Alt News" found that the comments were misreported and the ex-diplomat who made the comments was "Zafar Hilaly".
In the debate posted on YouTube by HUM news as part of a program called "Agenda Pakistan", Hilaly said, "What you did, India, was an act of war. India ne jo kiya, international boundary ko cross karke ek act of war. Jisme kam se kam 300 logo ko unhone marna tha. (What India did was an act of war. By crossing the international boundary India committed an act of war in which they intended to kill at least 300 people)."
The very next sentence has the former diplomat saying: "Ittifaqan vo nahi mare, humne [India ne] ek football field ko bomb kiya. (Coincidentally, they [Pakistani people] did not die and India bombed a football field.)"
Zafar Hilaly also tweeted a video saying his statement was spliced and edited.
Alt News said a version of the video posted on Twitter had an abrupt cut "around 0:7-0:9 seconds" and the word "marna (to kill)" sounds as if Hilaly said "mara (killed)".
The news has since been removed by websites
— Zafar Hilaly (@ZafarHilaly) January 9, 2021
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
