Lighthouse Journalism came across a few posts that suggested that Pakistan flags were waved by the Muslim activists during the celebrations in Maharashtra after the results were declared. During the investigation we found that the flag is not Pakistan’s but it is an Islamic flag.
Claim:
X user Sudarshan Marathi shared the video on their profile.
Check the archive version of the post.
Other users too are sharing the video with same claim.
Another video from Nashik was shared with the same claim by the same X user.
Investigation:
We started our investigation by checking the picture of the flag seen in the video.
The flag seen in the video was green in colour with a crescent and a star which is a symbol of Islam.
We then checked the flag of Pakistan.
Pakistan flag consists of dark green with a white vertical stripe, a white crescent and a five pronged star in the middle.
The video was indeed from Weston square in Ahmednagar, a few similarities were spotted in the actual location as found on Google maps.
In the video that was shared claiming to be from Nashik too, saw people waving Islamic flag and not the Pakistan flag.
In the next step of investigation we connected with Rahul Zaware, secretary of Nilesh Lanke Foundation from Ahmednagar who clarified that the Muslims celebrating the MVA win did not belong to any organisation or any Islamic political party.
Conclusion: Flag of Pakistan was not waved during the celebrations of MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi) in different parts of Maharashtra, the viral claim is false.
