A video showing a green flag being raised alongside a saffron flag, a Congress flag and a flag supporting BR Ambedkar has gone viral on social media.
What are users claiming?: The video is being shared to claim that people raised Pakistan’s flag in Karnataka after Congress won the state’s Assembly elections.
![Uttara Kannada SP Vishnuvardhana N told the media that the flag raised in Bhatkal was not Pakistan's national flag.](https://images.thequint.com/thequint%2F2023-05%2Fb2eff3fa-2b1b-4a56-a92a-8e8b9f9db77c%2FScreenshot_2023_05_18_at_10_20_25_AM.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&fmt=webp&width=720)
An archive of this post can be seen here.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
(Archives of more posts with the same claim can be seen here, here, here and here.)
But…?: The video shows an Islamic flag, not Pakistan’s national flag.
The video is from Samshuddin circle in Karnataka’s Bhatkal, where people raised different flags – including one with Bhatkal’s Congress candidate Mankal Subba Vaidya’s face – with each other.
Uttara Kannada Superintendent of Police Vishnuvardhana N also issued a statement saying that police personnel present on the spot had confirmed that the flag was not that of Pakistan.
How did we find out?: Using relevant keywords, we looked for reports on the incident.
We came across a report by TV9 Kannada that mentioned that the video was from Karnataka’s Bhatkal constituency, where a Congress candidate won in the state’s Assembly elections.
It said that an Islamic flag was raised and hoisted alongside a saffron flag at Samshuddin Circle.
A search for the street view of the circle on Google Maps confirmed that the location was Bhatkal’s Samshuddin Circle.
![Uttara Kannada SP Vishnuvardhana N told the media that the flag raised in Bhatkal was not Pakistan's national flag.](https://images.thequint.com/thequint%2F2023-05%2F5863364b-d92d-4879-9fb2-675d3e738fea%2FAishwarya_WQ_2.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&fmt=webp&width=720)
The video was taken at Bhatkal's Samshuddin circle.
(Source: Twitter/Google Maps/Altered by The Quint)
We compared Pakistan’s national flag to the flag seen in the video, and saw that the flag in the viral video did not have a white stripe on the side.
![Uttara Kannada SP Vishnuvardhana N told the media that the flag raised in Bhatkal was not Pakistan's national flag.](https://images.thequint.com/thequint%2F2023-05%2Ffab828af-050a-4ced-9c8a-43873976e9c8%2F5.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&fmt=webp&width=720)
The flag is not Pakistan’s national flag.
(Source: Altered by The Quint)
Cops issue clarification: A news report by Vartha Bharati mentioned that the police had clarified that the flag was not that of Pakistan.
Uttara Kannada district’s Superintendent of Police Vishnuvardhana N told Vartha Bharati that no complaint was filed in this case as officers present on the spot had confirmed that it was not Pakistan’s flag.
“It was a religious flag, and it was not a Pakistani flag. We have confirmed it, and we request the social media users not to share any misleading information that could create communal unrest,” he told the news organisation.
Conclusion: The flag seen in the viral video is not Pakistan’s national flag.
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