A 35-second long clip of a mob breaking a structure is going viral on social media as a video from Pakistan where people are destroying a 100-year-old Shiva temple. Sharing the viral clip on Twitter, Amardip Potfode, the state secretary of BJP SC morcha, wrote, "See how 100 years old Lord Shiva's temple was demolished in Pakistan. And here the Ram Janmabhoomi temple built after the decision of the Supreme Court bothers not only the 'green insects' but also some so-called secular Hindus." Mahesh Kumar Srivastava, who is affiliated to the pro-BJP propaganda channel Sudarshan News, also shared the clip on Twitter with the same caption. Another Sudarshan News journalist, Alok Jha, shared the video with the same caption. Various Twitter users have shared the video on the platform, including @Ramande77788760, @gyanveerBns, @Krashngopal61, @Imahadev92 and others. The video has also been shared by a handful of Facebook usersFacebook as well. [gallery type="slideshow" size="full" ids="143107,143108,143109,143110"]

Fact Check

We broke down the video into key-frames and performed a reverse image search on one of the stills using Yandex. This led us to a news report by The Times Of India published in December 2020 which had a thumbnail similar to one of the frames from the viral video. As per the report, a temple located in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province was demolished by a mob led by a local cleric. It also mentions that prior to the demolition, a rally was taken out in the locality where objectionable speeches were delivered. Following the event, the mob marched to the temple and started destroying it. It is alleged that the event was carried out by a right-wing group called Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl) (JUI-F). We then looked at a news report by Dawn, as per the report the police had detained at least 14 people in overnight raids and arrested others individuals who participated in or provoked the mob to demolish the shrine. The report also adds that the local authorotoes had given permission for the temple's renovation, which bothered the leaders. Following the attack, Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed took notice of the incident and fixed the matter for hearing on January 5, 2021. We found an Al Jazeera report from January 6, 2021. As per the report, the apex court ordered the government to rebuild the Shri Paramhans Ji Maharaj Samadhi temple and directed that expenses be charged to a local Muslim leader who was allegedly responsible for the mob violence that led to the damage. To sum it up, a video of a 100-year-old Hindu shrine destroyed by locals in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in December 2020 was shared on social media as a 100-year-old Shiva temple destroyed by locals.
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Politics