In the backdrop of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s visit to India, a video doing rounds on social media is being shared as “Saudi prince on Kashmir”. In the one-minute clip, a person dressed in traditional thobe can be heard saying that he believes Kashmir is “Hindu land”. From a Facebook page Proud to be India, the video has over 1.86 lakh views.
https://www.facebook.com/ProudToBeAnIndian.in/videos/748347688898864/?t=0
“My position on the Kashmir issue is very clear. I am not a politician. I only care about history and religion. I know that Islam came to India much later than Hinduism (which) had already existed. Pakistan claimed independence way after all this happened, 70 years ago. So I don’t think Pakistani is a suitable negotiator regarding Kashmir. I don’t even think they have the right to speak. I believe its Hindu land. That’s very controversial. Many will say no, they have the right to have their opinions. My position is that Kashmir is Hindu land and I say this in front of everyone. I’m not just saying this because I am in India. This has been my opinion for five years. Even when I was an extremist this was my opinion. So nobody can say that I am being paid by Modi or anything like that,” says the man.
The video is viral on Facebook and Twitter alike, shared by several individual users.
Not a Saudi prince
The man in the viral video is not a Saudi prince but Imam Tawhidi, an Iranian-born Australian Shia Muslim Imam. Tawhidi himself clarified the same on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/Imamofpeace/status/1097336599853953024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1097336599853953024&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.altnews.in%2Fviral-video-false-claim-of-saudi-prince-giving-opinions-on-kashmir%2F
Tawhidi, who runs his Twitter account from the handle @imamofpeace, was in India earlier this month for the Arth Fest of art and culture in Delhi.
https://twitter.com/Imamofpeace/status/1093545405005119489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1093545405005119489&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.altnews.in%2Fviral-video-false-claim-of-saudi-prince-giving-opinions-on-kashmir%2F
Arth uploaded the complete video of his speech. At 54:44 minutes, a person from the audience asked him – “how do we protect the peaceful Muslim population from Wahabism in Kashmir”. Tawhidi’s reply to this question was the one-minute clip viral on social media.
The viral video is, thus, being circulated with a false narrative. It does not depict the opinion of a Saudi prince but that of Imam Tawhidi.
This article was originally published at Alt News.