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Fact check: Sketch of Pahalgam attack suspect resembling Babar Azam is doctored

Posts from multiple users on social media on Wednesday shared a screenshot from an Indian news outlet, claiming it showed a sketch of one of the suspects in the Pahalgam attack resembling Pakistani cricketer Babar Azam. However, the viral image was edited and the original sketch did not resemble the athlete.

Twenty-six lost their lives in an attack in occupied Kashmir on Tuesday. The attack took place in Pahalgam, a popular destination in the scenic Muslim-majority territory that draws thousands of visitors every summer.

The assault has been claimed by ‘The Resistance Front’, a hitherto unknown entity; media reports have quoted the outfit as claiming the attack to protest against demographic changes in the disputed region.

On Wednesday, a Facebook user shared a screenshot of an alleged social media post by Indian media outlet India Today, featuring sketches of the suspects involved in the Pahalgam attack, one of which resembled Babar.

The post racked up more than 2,000 reactions.

The image was also posted on the forum of digital media outlet Siasat.pk with the caption: “Indians lost their minds – Pakistani cricketer Babar Azam involved in terrorist attack.”

Similar claims were widely shared by Pakistani users on many social media platforms as can be seen here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality and spread by users, as well as due to significant public interest in the events unfolding between India and Pakistan in the wake of the Pahalgam attack.

Analysing the image through multiple tools to detect evidence of tampering or use of artificial intelligence showed that Sight Engine indicated a 95 per cent likelihood of facial manipulation while Fake Image Detector classified it as either a computer-generated or modified image.

A reverse image search yielded the original post shared by India Today on Wednesday that showed that the sketch did not resemble Babar.

Therefore, the fact-check determined that the claim about a sketch shared by an Indian media outlet of one of the suspects of the Pahalgam attack resembling Pakistani cricketer Babar Azam is false. The viral image of the sketch was edited since the original sketch of the suspect did not resemble Babar at all.

This fact check was originally published by iVerify Pakistan — a project of CEJ and UNDP.



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