Amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan following the recent terror attack in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir, which led to the death of 26 people, mostly tourists, several misleading information are circulating on social media, with several Pakistan-backed accounts falsely claiming that the head of the Indian Army's Northern Command has been removed from his position. However, fact-checks have confirmed that this claim is false.
What is going viral?
Pro-Pakistan people on social media platforms are claiming that India has removed the head of the Army's Northern Command due to intelligence failure during the attack in Pahalgam. A user named Taymur Malik on X wrote, "India Sacks Northern Command Chief After Intel Debacle: Major Shake-Up in Indian Army Command, Following a massive intelligence failure, India sacks Northern Command chief Lt Gen Suchindra Kumar. In a hasty move, Lt Gen Pratik Sharma, current DCOAS (Strategy), has been flown in from Delhi to take charge."
Investigation
As several pro-Pakistan social media accounts were sharing this claim, we decided to investigate this claim. First of all, we resorted to Google Open Search and searched whether the government has removed the head of the Northern Command. However, we did not find any news which backs the social media claim. Further, we searched on social media platforms and we found an X post from PIB.
In a post on X, PIB Fact Check dubbed these documents as "fake". PIB said, "Several pro-Pakistan social media accounts falsely claim that Northern Commander Lt Gen Suchindra Kumar has been removed from his post after the Pahalgam incident."
"Lt. Gen MV Suchindra Kumar is attaining superannuation on April 30. Lt Gen Pratik Sharma will be appointed as the new Northern Army Commander."
What came out in fact check?
A fact check conducted by India TV has revealed that the viral claim of sacking Northern Command chief Lieutenant General Suchindra Kumar after the Pahalgam attack is completely fake. People are advised to be cautious of any such post.
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