Old image falsely shared as recent Pheran Day celebrations in Kashmir
On 21st December, 2023 Kashmir celebrated its International Pheran Day. Amidst the celebrations, a picture is being shared by Users where they are linking the image to the recent celebrations of Pheran Day.
An account named Kashmir Observer has shared the image and wrote the caption, “Kashmiris celebrate Pheran Day”
Fact Check
We investigated the viral by doing a reverse image search. During the process we found the image posted by Arab News World in an article published on 2 March 2021.
Incident associated with the image:
Media Reports mentioned that unarmed officers were killed in a busy market in Srinagar on 19 February 2021. The assailant in this incident was also wearing a pheran. Thus in response to it, police and paramilitary troops carried out checks and frisking for security reasons. (Source: Arab news)
The wire reported that the inspector general of the CRPF (Srinagar sector) Charu Sinha also clarified that the security forces are conducting frisking operations but there is no need to remove the pheran. “Security is tightened but insulting anybody is not the intention,” she said, adding there has been no direction from authorities to officers on the ground to force civilians to remove their pheran during the frisking.
Similar images were also found posted by Photojournalist, Basit Zargar, posted in 2021 on his Twitter account.
21 December 2023, International Day Celebrations were conducted smoothly without any restrictions.
Kashmir Observer, a local media house, reported, “Scores of youths organized a fashion show near the Clock Tower at the Lal Chowk city center here to celebrate the day, displaying various forms and colors of the traditional cloak worn by the people of the valley wear during winters.”
Greater Kashmir, a local media house, also covered the celebrations where people can be showcasing Pherans.
Conclusion
Thus from the fact check, it is clear that the image is an old one from the year 2021. The recent celebrations were conducted without any restrictions.
DFRAC Analysis: Misleading
