Fact Check: Viral video showing people crossing Indian border makes a false claim that they are from Myanmar
Violence erupted in Manipur as clashes started between two ethnic groups of the state, Meitei, and Kuki. Several shocking videos surfaced from this region terrorizing the whole country.
Claim :
Video shows stealth route from Myanmar to Manipur enabling people to enter India illegallyFact :
The video shows the movement of nomadic people in Iran
Violence erupted in Manipur as clashes started between two ethnic groups of the state, Meitei, and Kuki. Several shocking videos surfaced from this region terrorizing the whole country.
Meanwhile, a video showing a group of people trekking mountains and heading to some place is being shared virally on Facebook, with the claim that it shows people entering Manipur, India from neighbouring Myanmar.
The claim in Telugu shared along with the viral video reads:
“*మయన్మార్ దేశం* నుండి *భారత దే
When translated, it claims “Secret route from *Myanmar* to *Indian country Manipur*. When the Congress party was in power, Hindus came and encroached the property. Now because of Modi's presence, Muslims are reaching India by stealth. How can you save your life? These people are risking their lives and bravely coming to India with even babies in their hands and even in their wombs. Hope you understood about the perpetrators of violence and riots in Manipur.”
Fact Check:
The claim is false. The video shows the movement of a nomadic tribe of Kurdistan in Iran.
When we performed a reverse image search using the key frames extracted from the video, we found several other Facebook users sharing the same video with the caption: “ژیانی ڕۆژانەی پڕ لەسەختی دانیشتوانی گوندێک کە خەڵکەکەی هەموو کوردن ..!!”
When translated, it states “Daily life of Kurdish villagers”
Taking a cue from here, we searched using the keywords “Nomadic life of Kurdish people”, and we found several videos on the nomadic life of Kurdish people.
A video shared by YouTube channel named Dena shared a longer video titled “Risk for life. Iranian Nomadic family” on March 12, 2023, with the description: ‘An Iranian Nomadic family with three young children travels a difficult path to reach their destination'.
Both the people and visuals in this video match with that in the viral video.
Similar videos showcasing the troubles of the nomadic people of Iran can be seen on YouTube.
Therefore, the viral video claiming to be showing the visuals of people illegally entering Manipur from neighbouring Myanmar is actually a video of Kurdish nomads in Iran. The claim is false.
