Claim: Video shows Pakistan Tehreek Insaf’s (PTI) protesters celebrating after they reached Islamabad.
Fact: The video is from Libya and shows crowds of people gathered in a desert at a car rally.
On 25 November, an X user posted a video (archive) allegedly showing PTI supporters celebrating after they reached Islamabad amid strict lockdown by the authorities. The caption, when translated from Urdu [via Google Translate], said: “You may not have seen a more beautiful scene in your life. Greetings, PTI workers reached Islamabad despite fascism.”
PTI’s Islamabad protests
Thousands of Imran Khan’s supporters marched to Islamabad on 24 November to demand the release of the former prime minister, who has been in jail since August 2023.
The protest call from Khan, asking his supporters to demand his release, as well as the release of his supporters, came in early November.
Pakistani authorities placed shipping containers to block protesters’ entry into the capital while social media platforms faced disruptions amid the protests. According to news reports, security forces also fired teargas at the protesters.
The authorities arrested approximately 1,000 protesters as of 27 November. Some sources reported that clashes between security forces and demonstrators have killed eight, including four security personnel and four protesters, and several others have been injured. However, exact numbers of deaths and injuries are difficult to verify at this time due to the ongoing internet shutdown in the capital.
According to a recent report by The Guardian, authorities and senior government officials have attempted to suppress the total death toll and forcefully remove hospital records. “The doctor, who requested anonymity for his safety, said there had been an attempt to cover up any fatalities,” the publication reported. Official sources who spoke to The Guardian added that there have been 17 civilian casualties and hundreds more had been injured.
“The severe restrictions on assembly, movement and mobile and internet services as well as arbitrary detentions of thousands of protesters across Pakistan, particularly in Islamabad, are a grave violation of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, movement and expression,” said Amnesty International in a statement released on 26 November.
A crackdown by security forces dispersed protesters on Tuesday night, which was followed by the PTI calling off the protests “temporarily,” in the early hours of 27 November, citing that protesters were brutally injured by the law enforcement at D-Chowk.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check investigated the clip as the terrain shown does not look like Islamabad. A reverse-search of keyframes from the video found that it is from Libya.
An Instagram video, posted on 9 November, includes scenes similar to the footage from the claim. Text saying, “Neither eastern nor western, Libya is one nation… rally 2024,” is superimposed on the video [translated from Arabic].
Another Instagram user shared the same video on 9 November with the hashtag “NoEast_No_West_Libya_Unity_National,” which further suggested that the video is unrelated to PTI’s rally in Islamabad.
We also found the video on TikTok, posted on 8 November, with the caption: “#TT_Desert_Rally_Bodan #Trends #Old_Cars #Tundra_57 #Trend #”
Taking cues from this, we conducted a keyword search which led us to a Facebook post from 9 November by The Libya Observer, an online news outlet. The caption of the video states, “Thousands of car rally fans in the oasis town of Waddan have turned the desert night into a spectacular view.” The video here is shot from a different angle but the fireworks, crowds and chants that include “Libya” are the same.
Therefore, Soch Fact Check concludes that the video in the claim has no connection to Pakistan or PTI’s Islamabad rally.
Virality
The X post garnered 203,000 views.
It also appeared on X here.
Conclusion: A video does not show PTI’s supporters celebrating at night after they reached Islamabad. It is from Libya and shows a crowd gathered for a car rally.
Background image in cover photo: Dawn
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