2024 Clip of Stone Pelting in PoK’s Muzaffarabad Viral as One From Vaishno Devi

Fact-Check: This video is from 2024 from Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir's Muzaffarabad area and not India, as claimed.

(Source: The Quint)

A video showing several trucks and jeeps moving downhill, while stones are being hurled from an elevated hillside, is being shared on social media.

Those sharing claimed that it showed Muslims throwing stones at a procession of pilgrims making their way to the Mata Vaishno Devi temple, which is located in Katra, Reasi in Jammu and Kashmir.

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot) 

(Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

Is the claim true?: No, the claim is false.

• The video dates back to 2024 and shows stone pelting in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir's Muzaffarabad.

What we found: At first, we divided the video into multiple screenshots and ran Google reverse image search on some of them.

• We came across a post on Reddit from 2024. It noted, "Why are Kashmiris throwing rocks at Pakistan army vehicles?" (sic.)

Here is a preview of the post.

(Source: Reddit/Screenshot) 

• We scrolled down to see the comments and users noted that the stone pelting was not aimed at the army.

• They also said that the location was Lohar Gali. This happened due to some demands by the people.

Here is a preview of the comments.

(Source: Reddit/Screenshot) 

• Using a virtual private network, we, then, ran a relevant keyword search and found that this incident dated back to May 2024.

• We came across a post on X by an account named Frontline Kashmir. It noted that in May 2024, some miscreants in Lohar Gali near Muzaffarabad, Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, pelted stones at two vehicles belonging to Rangers and torched them.

Here is the preview of the post.

(Source: X/Screenshot) 

• Similarly, we came across a video report by The Dawn from 18 May 2024 which also noted, "Stone Pelting on Rangers from Mountains in Azad Kashmir" (sic.)

Here are the same visuals as the viral video.

(Source: YouTube/Screenshot) 

• As per a report by Al Jazeera from May 2024, inhabitants of the contested area were calling for reduced prices for electricity and wheat. Later, the Pakistani government agreed to some demands of the protestors.

Google maps confirmation: We searched for Lohar Gali, Muzaffarabad and found similar images of street view as the viral video.

Here is comparison between the two frames. 

(Source: Altered by The Quint) 

Conclusion: This video is old from 2024 and is from Muzaffarabad and not Vaishno Devi temple, as claimed.

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