Claim: A video shows evidence of attempts to sabotage a PTI rally as uniformed men fired at the tyres of buses to prevent participants from attending the event.
Fact: The video is unrelated to the PTI rally in September 2024 and predates the event. It was originally posted on 28 July 2024 with the allegation that people were prevented from trying to attend the Baloch Raji Machi.
On 22 September 2024, Salman Ahmad posted (archive) a video, shot from behind the driver’s seat, showing uniformed men firing at the tyres of buses that he claimed were carrying participants to a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) rally in Lahore on 21 September.
Ahmad — a rock guitarist who shot to fame in the 1990s and is a close aide of Pakistan’s incarcerated former prime minister and PTI founder, Imran Khan — claimed the uniformed men in the video were “goons” of Pakistan Army chief Gen Syed Asim Munir. He captioned his post as follows:
“Despite Asim Munir’s goons, trying to flatten the tire of buses, @ImranKhanPTI Junoonis triumphed on Sept 21. Asim Munir has become a huge liability for Pakistan.”
The relationship between Khan — who remains in jail since 5 August 2023 owing to several cases against him — and the Pakistani military, including Gen Munir and his predecessor, Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, has been riddled with tensions (archive) since the former prime minister’s ouster in April 2022. He has also accused Bajwa of orchestrating (archive) his removal through a no-confidence vote.
Khan has further alleged that the United States and the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif were also involved in the said conspiracy. The US, Sharif, and the Pakistan Army have denied (archive) the claims.
PTI’s rally near Lahore
Ahead of the PTI’s “power show”, the party launched a mass campaign for support but the district administration only permitted holding the rally at Kahna, an area just outside of Lahore, instead of Minar-e-Pakistan, where the event was originally planned to take place.
“The rally had been a bone of contention since July, when PTI initially sought permission for the public meeting,” one report noted.
On the day of the rally, “police personnel cleared the stage after the 6pm deadline” and the sound system allegedly turned off, another report said. While federal ministers and leaders of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) termed the gathering a failure, the PTI claimed there were blockages and hindrances to prevent participants from attending the event, as well as a crackdown on supporters earlier.
In a message generated through artificial intelligence (AI) released through Khan’s official X (formerly Twitter) account, the party’s founder observed that his supporters came out for “true freedom”.
Misinformation around PTI events
Around the time of the PTI’s rallies in the past, social media was rife with content, including images and videos, that eventually turned out to be either false or misleading. Soch Fact Check has debunked multiple claims in just September and October 2024 here, here, here, and here.
Old and unrelated media has also been shared in the context of the party’s rallies and protests, such as the ones we investigated here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. In 2023, YouTuber Imran Riaz Khan published false images to support allegations of police brutality against the PTI, whereas an X user posted unrelated visuals as proof of surveillance.
Claims have also been made in the past about larger-than-actual crowd sizes, including inflated figures and doctored images, that Soch Fact Check has debunked here and here. Moreover, AI was used to peddle incorrect information meant to bolster support for the PTI, as revealed in our fact-checks here and here.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check first observed the TikTok handle @arbaz_ustad786 in the video posted by Ahmad.
When we browsed the said user’s profile, we found that the video — viewed over 355,400 times so far — was posted on 28 July 2024, according to Bellingcat’s TikTok Date Extractor.
Using keyframes as inputs on reverse image search tools, we came across the clip uploaded on Facebook by user ‘کپتا کاسیپاہی’ and the top comments under it are from August 2024, indicating it was posted in the start of the same month. Its caption reads, “گوادر جلسے کے لئے جانے والے بلوچ قافلوں کی گاڑیوں کے ٹائروں کو برسٹ کیا گیا [The tyres of the Baloch convoys’ vehicles going to the Gwadar rally were burst].”
Further search revealed the video was posted on 28 July on various other platforms, including on Facebook and Instagram, by ‘Sikandar Shar’, @danger_gichki_67, ‘VOICE OF TURBAT’, and ‘Zhob Times ژوب ٹائمز’.
Their captions — in Urdu, Sindhi, and Balochi languages — alleged that people were prevented from trying to attend the Baloch Raji Machi, or Baloch National Gathering, which took place in Gwadar. They also accused the security forces of blocking the convoys.
However, Soch Fact Check is not investigating the presence of security forces in the video or the claims that they prevented participants from heading to the rally.
We, therefore, conclude that the video predates the PTI’s rally on 21 September 2024 and has nothing to do with it.
Virality
Ahmad’s X post has garnered over 31,100 views as of writing time.
Soch Fact Check also received the message on WhatsApp, where it was marked “Forwarded many times,” indicating it was shared through a chain of five or more chats and has already gone viral.
We also came across the claim on Facebook, YouTube, and Reddit.
Conclusion: The video was originally posted on 28 July 2024 in connection with the Baloch Raji Machi. It is unrelated to the PTI’s rally on 21 September 2024.
Background image in cover photo: PTIOfficial
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com