Alt News fact-checks ‘pro-Pak’ slogans in Pune. Sakal’s news channel accuses it of ‘misleading people’

The Pune police might have announced that “Pakistan Zindabad” slogans were not raised during a Popular Front of India protest in Pune on September 23, but the media is unconvinced.

After a plethora of media houses – including Lokmat, Loksatta, Zee News, Times Now, ANI and Republic – reported on the alleged pro-Pakistan slogans on Friday, Marathi news channel Saam TV joined the chorus on Monday evening.

In a special bulletin, the channel, which is owned by Sakal Media, dissed fact-checking portal Alt News for “misleading people”. The Sakal Media group is owned and run by the politically influential Pawar family.

For context, Alt News published a report on September 25 stating the media and BJP leaders “falsely claimed” the pro-Pakistan slogans were raised. It compared the video snippets of sloganeering with a livestream of the event on Facebook, and concluded that the slogan raised was actually “Popular Front Zindabad”.

Saam TV offered its evidence of pro-Pakistan slogans to viewers in this video at the 27-second mark. The channel’s editor Prasan Joshi also did a YouTube live  about these “Pakistan” slogans.

Several videos of the protest accessed by Newslaundry – see here, here and here – only indicate the slogan “Popular Front Zindabad” being shouted.

Newslaundry reached out to Saam TV for comment. Editor Prasan Joshi said he cannot “officially comment” on the matter.