Video of Bangladeshis saying they want to go to Pakistan amid protests

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team has reviewed this content and determined that it is false.

To reach this conclusion, the iVerify Pakistan team translated the slogans being raised in the video from Bangla to English.

Multiple Indian users were sharing a video on social media platform X on August 8, 2024, claiming that it showed Bangladeshis raising slogans in support of Pakistan amid recent protests. However, the protesters were actually demanding that former premier Khaleda Zia goes to Pakistan.

Bangladesh released Zia, the chair of the main opposition party, from house arrest, following the resignation and departure of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina on August 5 as the military turned against her amid widespread protests.

Hasina, 76, had been in power since 2009 but faced accusations of rigging the January elections and widespread protests demanding her resignation. Over 400 people died in the unrest. Zia, 78, a two-time former prime minister, was convicted of corruption in 2018 and sentenced to 17 years in prison.

HOW IT STARTED

On August 8, an X account called Trunicle, claiming to be the only news portal in Sanskrit and Hindi, shared a video of a rally where people dressed in black traditional attire were marching and chanting slogans in Bangla.

The caption of the post said, “‘Pakistan is in our blood and we want to go Pakistan,’ chant Bangladeshi Muslims.”

The post gained over 682,000 views and was reshared 3,400 times.

It was also shared by other Indian users as can be seen here, here and here.

METHODOLOGY

A fact check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality.

Conducting an investigation of the video and what the protesters were chanting in the slogans showed a discrepancy between what was being said and the caption attributed to the crowd in the posts circulating online.

The people in the video were chanting: “Pakistan Er Khaldea, Pakistan E Chole Ja”, which actually translates into “Pakistan’s Khaleda Zia, go back to Pakistan.”

It thus seems to be a rally against Zia’s party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim regarding a video of Bangladeshi Muslims saying they want to go to Pakistan and expressing support for it is false.

The slogans being raised in the video did not correspond to what was being claimed in the viral posts about it circulating online.

Evidence and References