Pakistani men uprooting saplings in disputed land is given a false communal colour

A post in which a video showing a group of men in Pakistan uprooting saplings is doing rounds on social media with the claim that they are doing so because planting trees is against their faith. Through this article let’s verify the claim made in the post.

The archived version of the post can be seen here.

Claim: Group of men in Pakistan uprooting saplings, as planting trees is against their faith.

Fact: According to various news articles, the incident took place in Pakistan. As per these reports, group of men uprooted saplings as they were planted in a disputed land. No news article attributed this incident to their faith. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.

A simple google search with the keywords ‘Pakistan saplings uprooting’ led us to a news article which reported the incident. According to the article, the incident took place in Mandi Kas area in Khyber Agency in Pakistan. As per the report, the saplings were uprooted as they were planted in disputed land.

The article reported Deputy Commissioner Khyber Mahmood Aslam saying that there was a dispute between two groups over the land, one of the groups gave permission for the plantation drive whereas the other group uprooted them. Few other news articles which reported the incident can be seen here and here. But none of these articles attributed the incident to religious faith.

To sum it up, saplings were uprooted by Pakistani men because they were planted in a disputed land. The incident has nothing to do with religion.

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