In the run-up to the release of Laal Singh Chaddha, right wing social media users have demanded that the film be boycotted for the 'controversial comments' that actor Amir Khan had made in the past. The actor responded by saying that he was sad about the social media posts asking to boycott the movie and implored people to watch his films.
Meanwhile, an image showing Aamir Khan with two other people is going viral with the claim that the image shows the actor in the company of a terrorist. The image is going viral in the context of the upcoming release of the Aamir Khan-starrer Laal Singh Chaddha.
Claim:
The viral image shows Aamir Khan standing with persons dressed in white clothing. The image is circulating with the following claim in Hindi, "Aamir Khan with Afridi and Jamaat-e-ul terrorist Tariq Jameel. Satyameva Jayate!!!! Share this as much as possible and make the truth of this dog, Aamir, known to the people."
The image is viral across Facebook with a similar claim.
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian fact check team verified the claim and found it to be false.
In our keyword search across social media, we came across posts from 2014 containing the same image. The images were viral with the same claim as in the recent viral posts.
We then conducted a reverse image search on the viral image and came across this Facebook post by user Junaid Jamshed. The caption of the post, published on October 23, 2012, reads as follows, "Shahid Afridi and Aamir Khan with Maulana Tariq Jameel.."
The user had posted other images from Aamir Khan's meeting with Maulana Tariq Jameel and Shahid Afridi.
Taking a cue from this information, we conducted a keyword search with relevant terms such as 'Aamir Khan and Shahid Afridi'. We came across the following article published by Sial X News.
The media outlet states that the Pakistani religious scholar Maulana Tariq Jameel met Aamir Khan on the occasion of Hajj in a Saudi Arabian hotel.
We also came across an article by The Express Tribune published on October 23, 2012, which stated that Shahid Afridi and Aamir Khan met during a gathering in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, while performing Hajj.
The article talks about how Khan and Afridi spoke with Maulana Tariq Jamil, who reportedly "enlightened them on the virtues of Hajj." The article mentions that the former Vital Signs member Junaid Jamshed was also present during the meeting.
As we had found, Junaid Jamshed had posted the images to his Facebook page. The singer-turned-preacher passed away in 2016 in a plane crash, as per this Daily Pakistan report.
We also came across an NDTV report published on October 23, 2012, having the image shared by Jamshed.
We then conducted a keyword search to identify Tariq Jameel. We came across this article by The Express Tribune, which identified Jameel as a religious scholar. In 2020, he had landed in a controversy due to his remarks on "immodest women", blaming Pakistani women and their attire for causing the Covid-19 pandemic.
We then conducted a keyword search with the keywords 'Maulana Tariq Jameel Aamir Khan'. We found the following video uploaded on the Youtube channel 'Ink of scholars' on November 24, 2013. In the video, Tariq talks about how Shahid Afridi helped him meet with Aamir Khan during a visit to Mecca in Hajj 2012.
In the video, Tariq Jameel says, "There was no way for me to meet him (Aamir Khan) when I went to Hajj. He didn't know me. I wasn't getting any opportunity to meet with him. Allah sent our cricketer Shahid Afridi who was friends with him. I asked him (Shahid Afridi) on the phone to arrange a meeting. He (Shahid Afridi) then made it happen." We couldn't find any reports that linked Tariq Jameel with terrorist activities in Pakistan.
Conclusion:
In our Fact Check, we found that the image showing Aamir Khan actually dates back to 2012. The image was taken during Khan's religious pilgrimage to Mecca during Hajj 2012. The person seen in the image along with him is indeed Tariq Jameel, but we found that he is a religious scholar. In our Fact Check, we couldn't find any credible reports connecting him with terrorist activities. Thus, we can ascertain that the viral claim is false.
If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.
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