No, this is not a photo of Indian tennis player Sania Mirza in Pakistan

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  • Published on January 29, 2019 at 09:00
  • 2 min read
  • By AFP India

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An image that has been shared thousands of times on Facebook purports to show Indian tennis player Sania Mirza wearing a hijab in Pakistan. The image is actually from her 2006 visit to Saudi Arabia for Umrah, an Islamic pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca.

The post which has been shared nearly 10,000 times since it was published January 17, contains two images on Mirza.

In one, the Indian tennis player is pictured in ripped jeans and a fitted t-shirt with her hair loose. The writing on the image says: “In India”. 

In the other photograph, she is fully covered in a black hijab. The text on the photo says: “In Pakistan”. 

Across the bottom of the photographs, there is text saying: "Still India is intolerance, right?" 

The misleading post has a caption saying in Hindi: “Those who criticise India should look at Sania Mirza and think.”

Snapshot of the misleading post of Sania Mirza claiming it to be from Pakistan

The image has been shared alongside a similar claims by many users, for example here on Facebook and Twitter.

A reverse image search found the original photo was published on Rediff news on November 11, 2006, which said the image was taken by one of their readers in Mecca, where Mirza and her family had gone for Umrah, an Islamic pilgrimage.

“The picture was taken in 2006 during Umrah and not in Pakistan as claimed on social media,” Sania’s father Imran Mirza told AFP over phone from Hyderabad.

Mirza also performed Umrah in May 2018, and posted about the trip on her official Twitter account.

In the photo on her Twitter account, Mirza and the other women in the photograph are seen wearing a Hijab.

Sania Mirza has visited Pakistan in the past without covering her head. Pictures of her in Pakistan have been shared by local media, for example here, here and here.

She was also photographed in Pakistan’s Lahore along with a Pakistan actress Urwa Hocane, who on December 27, 2017 posted a photo on her official Twitter account.

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