Recently, several Twitter users have been sharing a picture which seems to be a Breaking News flash news from Republic TV. It reads “ 21 Sikh Regiment refused to fight for India”. This was majorly shared by Pakistani users.

The Twitter users who have shared the picture have also added their own contexts to it such as a revolt starting inside the Indian army, Sikhs refusing to fight against Pakistan, etc. 

A Twitter user Israr Ali Mirani tweeted the screengrab with a caption "Breaking News: 21 Sikh Regiment From Indian Army Refused to Fight Against Pakistan,,,,,No doubt Sikhs Are the greatest and excellent people in the Earth at this time".

Another Twitter user "Kashmir Humara Hai" tweeted it with a caption "Revolt Inside Indian Army Began , Support for Freedom movements . Sikhs I’m army refused to fight against Kashmir’s and Pakistan. Sikh appreciate Imran khan support for #kartarpurcorridor #KashmirWantsFreedom #Khalistan2020".

Firstly, we will debunk the picture. We did a bit of research and found that this is not the first time that the picture and its claims have surfaced the internet. The first user to tweet this was back in March 2019. 

Back then Congress politician Salman Nizami had shared the image on Twitter, with the comment “Oh! Where is RSS?”.  Journalist Rohini Singh of The Wire was among the Twitter users who retweeted the post.

Photoshopped screengrab 

A simple reverse image search revealed that the image shared is photoshopped. The original picture is from Republic TV, however, the information displayed has been photoshopped. The original picture can be found in a news article from NewsLaundry dating back to 2017 which is about a TRP battle between Indian Today and Republic TV. Here is a screenshot from the article.

The picture is the same as the one shared by the Twitter users and it is very evident that the text has been edited. If we look closely, we can notice the edited and bad placement of the ‘Breaking News’ and a slight difference between the fonts. Another proof is that in the bottom picture we can see running news about a debate and viewership percentage and 61% is mentioned. The same information was tweeted out by Republic TV on 25th May 2017.

This confirms that the image shared by News Laundry are actual pictures of the original telecast and not the one shared by the Twitter users.

Rumour started by Pakistani Media

On March 3, thenews.com.pk reported that the World Sikh Parliament(WSP) has asked Sikh soldiers in the Indian army to refuse orders of the fight against Pakistan.

On March 4, dailytimes.com.pk reported the same event with a misleading headline "Sikh soldiers in Indian army to refuse orders of fighting against Pakistan: WSP".

On March 5, These reports by Pakistani media prompts a Twitter user Gurmeet Kaur to share an edited screengrab of Republic TV to claim that 21 Sikh regiment has refused to fight for India.

On the same day, a Pakistani news channel 'Abbtakk' referred to the tweet of Gurmeet Kaur to make the sensational claim. The report claims that 21 Sikh regiment refused to fight for India after World Sikh parliament asked Sikh soldiers in Indian Army to refuse to fight for India.

World Sikh Parliament

World Sikh Parliament (WSP) was constituted by a group of Panthic organizations during the World Sikh Convention (WSC) held in the US on March 3, 2018. Back then Panthic organizations from 16 countries had put forward candidates for the WSP.  Not much information is available about the organisation but a quick look at the Facebook page shows that they regularly indulge in anti-India protests in Europe.

Indian Army calls out the fake news

On March 6, the official twitter handle of the Indian Army had called out this fake news. They tweeted, "False & malicious creatives & tweets from terror- sponsors are emerging. Guard against false propaganda against #IndianArmy units. Guard against Lie, Deceit & Deception of terror- sponsors".

Conclusion

In conclusion, the images virally shared on Twitter claiming that 21 Sikhs have refused to fight for the Indian Army is completely fake and is being used to spread propaganda using a photoshopped picture.

The picture surfaced the internet back in March this year following the Pulwama terror attack. Now, after several months, it is making its appearance back on the internet following the recent Kashmir issue. It is shameful that several types of fake news are being created or shared with false and outdated contexts to spread propaganda. Every time a politically sensitive issue arises, many propaganda groups carry out such unnecessary works that result in confusion, problems, and communal hate.