An previous photograph of mock coffins carried by Shiite Muslims as a part of a non secular procession has resurfaced in social media posts that falsely claimed it confirmed victims of lethal tribal clashes in northwest Pakistan in July 2024. Officers stated at the least 42 individuals had been killed within the violence between Sunni Muslim and Shiite tribes, however the photograph of worshippers marking the anniversary of the dying of the Prophet Mohammed’s grandson was taken in December 2009.
“Be the voice of Parachinar, as their voices have been silenced,” learn a Fb put up shared on July 29 by a web page with greater than 1.3 million followers.
It was shared after lethal clashes linked to a land feud between the Sunni Muslim Madagi and Shiite Mali Khel tribes in Pakistan’s mountainous northwestern area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the place communities abide by conventional tribal honour codes (archived hyperlink).
Officers stated at the least 42 individuals had been killed and greater than 150 wounded throughout days of combating with machine weapons and mortars across the city of Parachinar (archived hyperlink).
The clashes erupted after a gunman opened fireplace at a council negotiating a decades-long dispute over farmland.
A photograph included within the put up reveals coffins draped in red-stained fabric being carried down a road.
The photograph was shared in related posts on Fb in addition to on X right here and right here.
Nonetheless, the photograph was taken years earlier than the clashes in northwestern Pakistan and reveals a non secular procession that occurred in December 2009.
A reverse picture search on Google discovered the unique photograph in AFP’s archives, credited to AFP photographer Asif Hassan.
Under is a screenshot comparability between the photograph in false posts (left) and the AFP photograph (proper):
“Pakistani Shiite Muslims carry mock coffins throughout a mourning procession in Karachi on December 30, 2009,” the photograph caption reads.
“Shiite Muslims over the world observe Moharam, the primary month of Lunar calendar, to mark the dying of Imam Husain, grandson of Prophet Mohammad who died together with 72 companions on the battlefield of Karbala Iraq, some 1,400 years in the past.”
The identical photograph was revealed by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on January 18, 2020 in an article about calm returning to Karachi after a lethal bombing at a non secular procession and a “subsequent spree of ‘goal killings’ that left at the least 35 rival political activists lifeless” (archived hyperlink).
AFP reported that 43 individuals have been killed within the suicide bombing, the worst assault in Pakistan’s monetary capital for 2 years.
