Photo of park in Bangladesh shared as decked-up Boulevard Road in Srinagar – Alt News

An image apparently clicked at Srinagar’s Boulevard Road is viral on social media. Users claim that the image is a ‘stunning symbol of transformation’ ahead of the G20 meet in Kashmir. The chairman of a Jammu Kashmir-based NGO Save Youth Save Future, Wajahat Farooq Bhat, tweeted the image with the same claim. Union minister of state for external affairs & culture, Meenakshi Lekhi, replied to their tweet with a thumbs-up and a clapping emoji. (Archive)

Verified user Aquib Mir shared the image in a tweet addressed to ‘puppet of Pakistani army and terrorist lover’ Shahid Afridi. Like others, the user claimed that the image was clicked at Boulevard Road in Srinagar, which has been given ‘a magnificent makeover to welcome delegates from across the world’ for the G20 meet. (Archive)

Hello shahid Afridi, you are the puppet of Pakistani army and terrorist lover .

This is Boulevard Road in Srinagar has been given a magnificent makeover to welcome delegates from across the world for the #G20Kashmir summit.

Retweet it . #G20InKashmir pic.twitter.com/3kkWLFlBqT

— Aquib Mir (@aquibmir71) May 18, 2023

Several users including @FatimaDar_jk, @Mindblower81, @Asif_Plaisar and @SehrishB_ tweeted the image with the same claim.

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The image is also viral on Facebook with the same claim.

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Fact Check

Upon a reverse image search of the image, we came across a Facebook page Jhautola Patuakhali । ঝাউতলা পটুয়াখালী which has the viral image set as its display picture. The Display Picture was updated on February 6, 2023.

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Upon probing further, we discovered that Jhautola Patuakhali is a park in Patuakhali town, which the headquarters of Patuakhali district in Barishal division of Bangladesh. The Facebook page is dedicated to the development of the park.

We also found the same image on Google with the location Jhautola Patuakhali, posted by a user in February 2023.

We also found Facebook photos clicked at Patuakhali, through a relevant keyword search. Below, we have compared the viral image with one of the photos we found on Facebook. Evidently, both were clicked at the same location. The readers might note several similarities, like the same colour patterns of the footpath and the road.

We found a video on Facebook, shot in Jhautola Patuakhali. The video provides a street view of the location.

The location of the viral image can be seen in the aforementioned Facebook video. Below is a comparison.

According to a report by Siasat Daily dated May 18, a tight security grid has been put in place to avoid any untoward incidents in Srinagar as the city gets ready to host its first-ever G-20 meeting. Security forces erected several checkpoints in and around the city especially in the summer capital Lal Chowk to maintain law and order in the valley. The report contains an image of CRPF patrolling on Boulevard Road ahead of G-20 meeting in Kashmir, clicked on-ground.

We also compared the viral image with the image in the Siasat Daily report, and noted that the two pictures have distinct dissimilarities.

Hence, it is clear that an image clicked in a park at Patuakhali, Barishal division, Bangladesh, is falsely viral with the claim that it is from Boulevard Road in Srinagar and is a symbol of the ‘stunning transformation’ ahead of the G-20 meet in Kashmir.

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