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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Cong takes swipe at PM over India not being part of US-led 'Pax Silica' grouping
New Delh (PTI) The Congress on Saturday said it is perhaps not very surprising that India is not part of a US-led strategic initiative to build a secure silicon supply chain, given the "sharp downturn" in the Trump-Modi ties, and asserted that it would have been to "our advantage if we had been part of this group".
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the news of India not being part of the group comes after the PM had enthusiastically posted on social media about a telephone call with his "once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC".
In a lengthy post on X, Ramesh said, "According to some news reports, the US has excluded India from a nine-nation initiative it has launched to reduce Chinese control on high-tech supply chains. The agreement is called Pax Silica, clearly as a counter to Pax Sinica. The nations included (for the moment at least) are the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia."
"Given the sharp downturn in the Trump-Modi ties since May 10th, 2025, it is perhaps not very surprising that India has not been included. Undoubtedly, it would have been to our advantage if we had been part of this group."
"This news comes a day after the PM had enthusiastically posted on his telephone call with his once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC," the Congress leader asserted.
The new US-led strategic initiative, rooted in deep cooperation with trusted allies, has been launched to build a secure and innovation-driven silicon supply chain.
According to the US State Department, the initiative called 'Pax Silica' aims to reduce coercive dependencies, protect the materials and capabilities foundational to artificial intelligence (AI), and ensure aligned nations can develop and deploy transformative technologies at scale.
The initiative includes Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia. With the exception of India, all other QUAD countries -- Japan, Australia and the US -- are part of the new initiative.
New Delhi will host the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 on February 19-20, focusing on the principles of 'People, Planet, and Progress'. The summit, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the France AI Action Summit, will be the first-ever global AI summit hosted in the Global South.
Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump on Thursday discussed ways to sustain momentum in the bilateral economic partnership in a phone conversation amid signs of the two sides inching closer to firming up a much-awaited trade deal.
The phone call between the two leaders came on a day Indian and American negotiators concluded two-day talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement that is expected to provide relief to India from the Trump administration's whopping 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods.
In a social media post, Modi had described the conversation as "warm and engaging".
"We reviewed the progress in our bilateral relations and discussed regional and international developments. India and the US will continue to work together for global peace, stability and prosperity," Modi had said without making any reference to trade ties.
