Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday tweeted a video that he claimed showed atrocities committed by the Uttar Pradesh Police against Muslims living in the state. He deleted the video after it turned out that it was recorded in Bangladesh in 2013.
The Rapid Action Battalion, or RAB, which is seen written on the shirts of individuals in the video, is an anti-crime and anti-terrorism unit of the Bangladesh Police.
After he deleted the video, Khan posted another tweet with a link to an article in The Hindu, with the message: “How long will the world remain silent while the fascist extremist Modi regime indulges in state terrorism?”
The Uttar Pradesh Police quickly replied to Khan’s first tweet. It also posted the original video. “This is not from U.P, but from a May, 2013 incident in Dhaka, Bangladesh,” the police tweeted. It added that the “RAB” written on the shirts of the individuals in the video would help Khan be “better informed”.
The Uttar Pradesh Police has been accused of using excessive force against people protesting the Citizenship Amendment Act. At least 19 people have been killed in the protests in Uttar Pradesh, some of which have turned violent. The police has also been accused of detaining and torturing minors.
The Citizenship Amendment Act, approved by Parliament on December 11, provides citizenship to refugees from six minority religious communities from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan, provided they have lived in India for six years and entered the country by December 31, 2014. The Act has been widely criticised for excluding Muslims.
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