Claim: A video shows a Punjab Police officer “misbehaving” and “insulting” an older woman amid a recent crackdown by authorities following protests across Pakistan against the 9 May arrest of Imran Khan.
Fact: The video is not recent, nor does it have anything to do with the May 2023 crackdown by Punjab Police. It is, in fact, from 2019, when Imran Khan was the prime minister of Pakistan.
On 20 May 2023, Abdulla Alamadi — a media consultant from Qatar whose Twitter bio says he is a “Columnist & Author” — posted a video (archive) showing a Punjab Police officer seemingly misbehaving with an old woman and captioned it as follows:
“I don’t understand the conversation, but I didn’t expect the tension among the Pakistani police to reach the point of insulting an elderly woman who relies on her walking stick to move. Where is the ethics of dealing with the elderly, especially women !!
Astaghfirullah ..”
Alamadi has often tweeted in favour of former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief (PTI) Imran Khan — examples can be seen here, here, here, here, and here — and his tweet that Soch Fact Check is investigating specifically notes “the tension among the Pakistani police”, referring to the recent clashes between authorities and the PTI leaders and supporters.
Many people in the comments— such as here, here, here, here and here — believe the incident in the video took place recently.
Background
Protests had erupted across Pakistan following Khan’s 9 May arrest, leaving at least eight people dead and 1,400 detained, as well as 145 police officers wounded, according to a report (archive) that cited authorities.
Read more: PTI worker not handed 10-year sentence by military court for stealing peacock
Khan was set to appear in a hearing of the Al-Qadir Trust case at the Islamabad High Court (IHC) when the Pakistan Rangers took the cricketer-turned-politician into custody on the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) orders.
Imran Khan was later released when the Supreme Court of Pakistan intervened, a 14 May report (archive) said.
Fact or Fiction?
A reverse image search using keyframes from the video in question led Soch Fact Check to a Facebook post made on 5 Sep 2019 by Capital TV.
The post, available here (archive), is captioned as follows:
“پنجاب پولیس کے اہلکار کی بزرگ خاتون کے ساتھ بدتمیزی، کیا پی ٹی آئی حکومت عوام کے ان رکھوالوں کی اچھی تربیت کر سکے گی؟ مزید دیکھئے اس ویڈیو میں
[A Punjab Police officer misbehaved with an old woman; will the PTI government be able to properly train these guardians of the people? See more in this video].”
The Punjab Police also responded to the video, confirming it is four years old and that “a case was registered against this police officer, who was arrested and dismissed from the service”. The response is available in English (archive) and Urdu (archive).
Virality
Soch Fact Check found the video posted with the false claim here, here, here, and here on Twitter. It was also shared here and here on Facebook.
Conclusion: The video has nothing to do with the May 2023 crackdown by Punjab Police. It is, in fact, from 2019, when Imran Khan was the prime minister of Pakistan.
Background image in cover photo: @PunjabPolicePakistanOfficial
To submit an appeal on our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com