Does This Video Show Pakistan's Hindu MP Taking About Forced Conversion? Old Video Viral With Misleading Claim

A video of a leader speaking about the force conversions happening in Pakistan is going viral on social media. In the viral video, he can be heard saying, "Last week, a 12-year-old girl was forced to accept Islam. When I reached the police station, the DSP started saying that she had accepted Islam on her own will."

He further talks about the atrocities on girls from minority communities living in Pakistan. While sharing this video, people on social media claimed that the person seen in the video is a Hindu MP from Pakistan who pleaded in the Parliament to save the daughters of his religion.

A Twitter user shared this video and wrote, "Viral Video of Pakistan's Hindu MP inside it's National assembly. Listen to his pain."

It is being widely shared on Facebook and Twitter with a similar claim.

Claim:

Viral video shows Pakistan's Hindu MP talking about the condition of Hindu girls in the National Assembly of Pakistan.

Fact Check:

The Logical Indian Fact-Check team verified the viral claim and found it to be misleading. The man in the video is Tariq Masish Gill, who belongs to the Christian community.

We used InVid's Keyframe Analysis tool to isolate the keyframes of the viral video. We then conducted a reverse image search on one of the keyframes and came across a video uploaded on PTV Parliament dated 11 August 2022.

The caption of the video suggests that the video was related to the session of the Quami Assembly. In this video, the speaker can be seen calling the person seen in the video by the name 'Tariq Masih Gill'. Tariq Masih Gill was raising the issue of forced conversion of a Christian girl child to Islam in Pakistan. Tariq Masih Gill can be seen speaking after 37 minutes in the video.

We also found the same video uploaded on the YouTube channel of NY News dated August 20, 2022. At 3 minutes 18 seconds of timestamp, one can see the footage as seen in the viral video.

On doing a keyword search, we found a report by Pakistan's newspaper, The Express Tribune dated 12 August 2022. According to the report, Pakistan organized a 'Minority Convention' in the National Assembly of Pakistan for the first time in August this year to commemorate the speech of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah regarding the freedom and equality of minorities in the then constituent assembly on August 11, 1947. Apart from all the MPs, representatives of minority communities also participated in this convention. The official Facebook handle of the National Assembly of Pakistan also shared the stills of this convention on their page.

On searching more, we found that Tariq Masih Gill is not the MP of Pakistan. However, he is a member of the Assembly of Punjab province of Pakistan. We then checked the official website of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab. According to it, eight seats are reserved for non-Muslims in the Provincial Legislative Assembly of Punjab. Tariq Masih Gill was elected from one of these seats for the second consecutive term in 2018. The description on the website suggests that he belongs to the Christian community.

It is evident from our investigation that the man in the viral video is not a Hindu MP of Pakistan. His name is Tariq Masih Gill who belongs to the Christian community. He is a member of the Punjab Provincial Assembly. In the viral video, he was raising the issue of the kidnapping and forced conversion of a 12-year-old Christian girl. Hence, the viral claim is misleading.

If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.

Also Read: Does This Viral Video Show People Thrashing AAP MLA In Punjab? No, Viral Video Is Scripted