Claim: A photo shows Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari visiting the graves of Indian soldiers who died in the Kargil War against Pakistan during his recent visit to India.
Fact: The photo doing the rounds on social media is from Bilawal’s visit to Lithuania in February 2023 when he paid a visit to the monument of Lithuanian freedom fighters in Vilnius.
Fact or Fiction?
On 6 May 2023, Twitter user Dr Fatima K – PTI (@p4pakipower1) shared a photo with the claim that it shows Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari visiting the graves of Indian soldiers who died in the Kargil War against Pakistan.
Soch Fact Check conducted a reverse image search and found a news report by the Express Tribune titled, “Bilawal discusses ties in Lithuania visit.”
The article, published on 22 February 2023, contains the same photo as the viral image. “Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari stands at the monument of Lithuanian freedom fighters after laying a wreath in Vilnius,” the photo is captioned.
Bilawal arrived in Goa, India, on 4 May 2023 to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers meeting. His trip is the first visit to India by a foreign minister of Pakistan in almost 12 years.
A video briefly recapping Bilawal’s visit was posted by Spokesperson MoFA (@ForeignOfficePk) on Twitter, but it did not mention or contain photos of the foreign minister visiting any memorial, contrary to viral claims.
FM @BBhuttoZardari attended #SCO CFM in #Goa from 4-5 May 2023.
Here is a brief recap of the visit ⬇️. #PakFMatSCO pic.twitter.com/ig3V35VgAm
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Pakistan (@ForeignOfficePk) May 6, 2023
During his two-day visit, Bilawal delivered a speech at the SCO meeting. He met with his counterparts from Russia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan and China, as well as SCO Secretary-General Zhang-Ming. The foreign minister interacted with the media and gave interviews to journalists Rajdeep Sardesai and Suhasaini Haider. Bilawal also attended a dinner hosted for all foreign ministers.
Virality:
Soch Fact Check found the claim here, here, here, here and here.
The tweet by @p4pakipower1 was viewed by 657,000 people and garnered 6,471 likes, 4,445 retweets and 593 quote tweets.
Fatima Kasuri, entrepreneur and socialite, had clarified earlier that the verified account Dr Fatima K – PTI (@p4pakipower1) is impersonating her.
On Facebook, it was shared here, here, here, here, and here.
Conclusion: The viral photo does not show Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari paying his respect at the graves of Indian soldiers who died in the Kargil War. In fact, it is from Lithuania when the foreign minister visited the memorial of Lithuanian freedom fighters in February 2023.