Fact-check: No, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation did not mention birth place of Muslim child as ‘Pakistan’ instead of ‘Ahmedabad’

18-month old Muslim child born in Ahmedabad does not have 'Pakistan' as his birth place in his certificate

On Monday, social media was abuzz with reports that a Muslim child born in 2018 had his birthplace as ‘Pakistan’ instead of Ahmedabad. A video was shared by one Mohammad Asif Khan who claimed that a Muslim kid’s birth place is mentioned as Pakistan instead of Ahmedabad.

https://twitter.com/imMAK02/status/1229389758624743424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Similar video was shared by one “Revler urf Hit Stoner” on Twitter with similar claims.

https://twitter.com/HitStoner1/status/1229335415783473152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Both shared BBC Gujarati video wherein the mother of the child is saying that they are afraid with impending NRC, Pakistan in the birth certificate may send them to Pakistan for real.

There are multiple things wrong with the video.

Birth certificate screenshot from BBC video

As seen above, the address mentions birthplace as Ahmedabad only. ‘Pakistan Railway Crossing’ is a landmark for the locality. The railway crossing in Vatva, Ahmedabad, is informally known as ‘Pakistan railway crossing’ as it is near a Muslim dominated area. However, as seen in the above image, the address of the birth place of the child is Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

Secondly, as per February 13 report of Times of India, Amdavad Municipal Corporation has changed the birth certificate and updated their online records as well.

As per the report, the 18-month-old Mohammad Uzerkhan now has updated birth certificate which does not mention the landmark which was informally known as Pakistan railway crossing.

Thirdly, BBC video talks about the fears the family has because of applicability of Citizenship Amendment Act. CAA is not even applicable to Indian citizens. As seen above, the child’s birth certificate states Ahmedabad, Gujarat as birthplace. Shockingly, instead of explaining to the parents that the birthplace in the certificate really does not mention Pakistan as birthplace, BBC continued to spread fake news.

OpIndia Staff: Staff reporter at OpIndia