Did Bhatkal celebrate Pulwama attack?
A fact-check by VarthaBharati
Bhatkal: A video from Bhatkal, wherein people seem to be celebrating something has been doing the rounds on right wing social media groups in coastal Karnataka.
The video has mainly raised eyebrows of many due to the caption attached to the video, which says that the Muslim community of the town celebrated the attack on CRPF soldiers in Pulwama that killed as many as 44 soldiers, on February 14.
When Vartha Bharati came across the video on popular social messaging platform WhatsApp on Tuesday, we decided to fact-check the issue.
Looking at the video, a group of people mostly in two wheelers were going in a procession while honking their horns. They seem to be in a celebratory mood. Vartha Bharati spoke to several people in Bhatkal including the police department, to know the reality of this video.
It was found that the video is of February 15, a day after the dastardly Pulwama attack, and was of a celebration of a local sports club, which won a local major cricket tournament in Manki which is near Bhatkal.
We then contacted Imtiyaz Udyawar, President of Bhatkal Muslim Youth Federation, a body that overlooks all the sports activities of Muslim clubs in Bhatkal, to further confirm the reports.
Imtiyaz confirmed the reports and added “This was not any anti-social or anti-national rally, it is the video of members of a particular sports club celebrating their victory in the cricket tournament that was held on 15th February in Manki ”.
“The players of the team travelled from Manki to Bhatkal (about 25 Kms) without any celebrations, as we (BMYF) had instructed them not to take out rally or celebrate in the wake of Pulwama attack. When they reached their locality, they started celebrating in their area or what we can call their backyard. These kind of celebratory processions in two wheelers are very common in and around Bhatkal after sports tournaments”.
“Few miscreants trying to disturb the peace here shot the video and uploaded it on social media saying that Pulwama attack was celebrated in Bhatkal. Some of them filed complaint against the club too, and Bhatkal police has registered a case in this regard. But the case is of public nuisance only and nothing like anti-national or anti-social activities have been reported in FIR nor any such complaints were filed. But after a couple of days, this rumors started doing rounds” Imtiyaz said.
We then spoke to Bhatkal Circle Inspector, KL Ganesh, who too confirmed all the reports and added that an FIR was filed against the team members, but it was only for causing public nuisance. We have not found any anti-social, anti-national activity nor anything like that was reported to us” Ganesh confirmed.
“All such rumors are fake, these are attempts to disturb peace and harmony in the region, do not believe any such rumors” Inspector Ganesh further said.
After confirming from all the sources including the police department, it is very clear that the video actually is of a sports club celebrating its victory in a cricket tournament and a few opportunist miscreants used it as an opportunity to disturb and disrupt the peace and harmony in the region.
Instead, we also found that Umbrella organisation of local Muslim bodies, Majlis-e-Islah wa Tanzeem Bhatkal, condmned that Pulwama attack and submitted a memorandum to the PM urging him to give 'strong reply' to the perpetrators of the attck, while local Muslim youngsters brought together several local organisations and their members from all communities, for a solidarity candle march on Feb 16, which gathered a huge support from local youngsters from all organisations, in an absolute show of unity when it comes to such matters, which again eleminates any possibility of these youngsters indulging in any anti-national activities or supporting the attack.
It is also to be noted that the sports club in question could have also avoided such celebratory rallies in the wake of the shock that the nation was into after the Pulwama attack killing 44 of our brave soldiers.
We also call on our readers to not believe or forward any such messages, images or videos without verifying and fact-checking the issues. You can also contact us (english@varthabharati.in) with any such contents wherein we as a media house can fact-check the content and inform truth to people.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
