A video is being widely shared, claiming to show Baloch human rights activist Mahrang Baloch declaring Balochistan, in Pakistan, an independent country.<\/p>\n
One of the posts sharing the video is captioned, "Mahrang Baloch is not merely a voice. She is a symbol of Baloch resistance & the aspirations of the #Baloch people. Today, she has declared #Balochistan an independent country a bold assertion of Balochistan\u2019s long-standing demand for freedom."<\/p>\n
Amrita News also shared the same video with a similar claim.<\/p>\n
(Archived versions of similar claims can be found here and here.)<\/p>\n
Is it true?: No, the video is from 2024 and is being shared with a false claim.<\/p>\n
How did we find out?: We ran a reverse image search on the video using Google Lens and found a video shared in 2024 with similar visuals.<\/p>\n
The video was uploaded to YouTube on 29 January 2024 with a caption that reads, "Dr Mahrang Baloch Huge Jalsa in Quetta, Balochistan".<\/p>\n
We observed that the video shared recently with the claim has a watermark.<\/p>\n
We ran a reverse image search and found that it is the logo of the online news network, The Balochistan Post.<\/p>\n
Following this, we went through The Balochistan Post's official X account and found the original post.<\/p>\n
The video was uploaded on 27 January 2024 and is captioned "The roar of the lioness! Tens of thousands respond to Dr @MahrangBaloch_'s chants."<\/p>\n
The roar of the lioness!Tens of thousands respond to Dr @MahrangBaloch_'s chants. pic.twitter.com\/0C9utEXwEI<\/p>\n
After running a keyword search, we found two reports on the gathering.<\/p>\n
According to News Intervention, Dr Sabiha Baloch, a human rights activist, addressed the crowd at Shahwani Stadium about the history of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC).<\/p>\n
Dawn, a Pakistani English-language newspaper, published a report on 28 January 2024.<\/p>\n