We have been getting a flurry of images depicting our country's and others' flags flowing at half mast due to the death of our beloved Aqa Maula, Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin.
As always, not to be easily convinced, I decided to do a small research and check out the facts before accepting them.
It didn't take me long to get to the bottom of it all.
Let's take our Indian flag. No better proof than first hand information. I went to Mantralaya myself and got a few pics to prove my point. As expected, our flag was not flying half mast.
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| Mantralaya as on 1630 hrs 19.01.14 |
Wikipedia has clearly stated the conditions when the flag is flown half mast.
"The flag is flown half-mast nationwide on the death of the president, Vice-president or prime minister. It is flown half-mast in New Delhi and the state of origin for the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and Union Ministers. On deaths of Governors, Lt. Governors and Chief Ministers, the flag is flown at half-mast in the respective states and union territories."
Also, the picture that is being fluently forwarded by one and all depicting our Indian flag at half mast is actually dated 14th Aug 2012 at the death of former CM- Vilasrao Deshmukh ( Note the image of the bird flying in the right corner of the image).
To make matters worse, the US flag has also been shown at half mast.
"Wyoming Governor Mead has ordered the United States flag and State of Wyoming flag lowered to half-staff statewide from sunrise to sunset on Saturday, January 18, 2014 in honor of Chief Warrant Officer 3 Andrew L. McAdams who died serving our country in the line of duty in Afghanistan on Friday, January 10, 2014."
Enough is enough. I am not going to individually check all flags of various countries and the reasons for their half mast. If people love and are happy with false information, so be it. But I won't accept things lying down. I thought it was my duty to make the gullibles be aware of the facts. But I don't think, this will ever stop. And probably my work would also never end.
