Fact Check: Pahalgam terror attack—captured terrorist says they get funds from RSS? No, find the facts here
An image of a bearded man in custody is circulating on social media, claiming that the ‘Kashmiri terrorist’ has confessed to receiving weapons and funding from the RSS.
By Md Mahfooz Alam
Claim:The image shows a captured terrorist from Kashmir, who confessed that the RSS provides them with weapons and money.
Fact:The claim is false. The image shows a terrorist named Abdul Qayoom who was nabbed by the BSF in 2016 while trying to infiltrate the Indian border from Akhnoor in Jammu and Kashmir. He is a resident of Sialkot, Pakistan.
Hyderabad: In the backdrop of a deadly terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, on April 22, an image has been circulating online showing a bearded man in the custody of two paramilitary personnel. The accompanying claim suggests that a captured ‘Kashmiri terrorist ‘ confessed to receiving weapons and funding from the RSS.
The English translation of the Hindi text overlaid on the image reads “Those who defame Muslims, look at this now—speak up! Muslims, please share this widely. During interrogation, a captured Kashmiri terrorist confessed that the RSS provides them with weapons and money and instructs them to kill, so that hatred can be spread against Muslims in people’s minds.”
An Instagram user shared the image with the caption, “Wherever you will find Muslims, BJP, RSS, ‘Tanatani’ will come out there.” (Archive)
Similar claims can be found here and here.
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The image shows a Pakistani terrorist captured in 2016, who was trying to infiltrate the Indian border from Akhnoor in Jammu and Kashmir.
Upon a reverse image search, we found the image in a video report published by India TV on September 24, 2016. According to the report, the person in the image is a Pakistani terrorist, Abdul Kayoom, who was arrested while trying to cross over to the Indian side in the Akhnoor sector of Jammu and Kashmir. The report also mentioned that he was trained by the terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba.
We also found that the image appeared in a report published by DNA on September 23, 2016, titled ‘BSF Catch LeT Activist from Pakistan Near Border.’ According to the report, the individual was identified as 32-year-old Abdul Qayum, son of Bhag Ali, a resident of Pul Bajuan village in Pakistan’s Sialkot district. He was apprehended while attempting to cross the border, and he had a dual-SIM Nokia mobile phone.
According to a The Indian Express report dated September 24, 2016, Qayum was arrested a week after the deadly Uri attack in which 18 Indian soldiers were killed. He was leading a group of four terrorists who were to follow him after he successfully crossed over to the Indian side. However, while attempting to pass through the border fence around 4 am, he became entangled in concertina wire and was apprehended by BSF personnel.
The report further stated that Qayum appeared to be a hardened terrorist with close ties to Hafiz Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba. His arrest was seen as a significant achievement for the BSF, as it added further evidence to the claim that terror attacks against India were being orchestrated from Pakistani soil.
We also found Qayum’s arrest reported by News 18 India and The Quint with the same details. However, none of the media outlets reported any confession by the terrorist about receiving weapons or funding from the RSS.
Therefore, it is clear that the man in the viral image, apprehended by the BSF, is a Pakistani terrorist, not a Kashmiri. Moreover, the claim that he confessed to receiving funding from the RSS is unsubstantiated.
