The anti-quota protests have come at a time when Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was settling down to power after winning a controversial election in January that gave her an unprecedented fourth consecutive term. In a new development, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court dismissed the order of the High Court that had precipitated the crisis and reserved 93% of the seats in government services for merit, allocating just 5% of jobs for freedom fighters and their descendants.
Surrounding this, a video has been widely shared where Indian army trucks can be seen along with the picture. While sharing the video and image, social media users have claimed, “A company of Indian army moving into Bangladesh from West Bengal as Bangladesh govt has sought help from India to crush the protests with firepower.” Frequent fake news peddler accounts like Pakfirst, Faryalbd, and Pak Resistance have shared the claim.
Fact Check
We investigated the video, image, and claim. Firstly, on the investigation of the claim, we find it is Fake. No calling of the Indian Army by the Bangladesh govt has been officially announced. Ministry of External Affairs has also informed in their official press release, “The High Commission has been making arrangements for security escort for safe travel of Indian nationals to the border-crossing points.”
Additionally, we investigated the videos and the image shared along with the claim. During the process we found, the video of the Indian army truck has been on the Internet since 2022. The video has been shared widely on Facebook in 2022 as well.
Similarly, the image shared with the claim is from Tejgaon Airport, Bangladesh, and not from India. The image was shared on Facebook with the caption,” Photo location: Tejgaon Airport (Old Airport), Agargaon, Dhaka.” We also found the image on a news platform named Kashmir Reader where the image was also quoted from Bangladesh.
Conclusion
Thus, from the Fact Check, it is clear, that the Indian army is not moving into Bangladesh to crush the protests and the videos & photos shared are also unrelated to the claim.
DFRAC Analysis: Fake
