Claim: A picture showing a protester who was allegedly pushed off a stack of containers while reportedly praying during the PTI’s November protests is AI-generated.
Fact: The picture is real and was not generated using AI. The authentic image, as well as another photo taken shortly afterwards of the protester trying to hang on before he was allegedly pushed off the containers, also corroborates the incident.
On 28 November 2024, multiple Facebook users claimed that the picture of a man who was apparently pushed off a stack of shipping containers while kneeling — allegedly offering prayers — during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) ‘Final Call’ protests in Islamabad was generated using artificial intelligence (AI).
Man ‘pushed’
Multiple international media outlets reported a dramatic incident during the protests involving a demonstrator who was positioned on top of three stacked containers, which were accessible by ladders. The individual appeared to be praying when uniformed men, reportedly personnel from the Pakistan Rangers, wearing riot gear, allegedly pushed him off.
The demonstrator tried to cling on but eventually fell to the ground, the outlets added, noting that his condition was unknown at that time.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, however, denied that the protester pushed off from the stack of containers — whom he identified as a resident of Mandi Bahauddin — was praying, saying instead that he was making a TikTok video. The man “got hurt on the arm and has bandages” but was “completely fine”, not dead, he added.
A PTI lawmaker from Mandi Bahauddin, Haji Imtiaz Ahmed Choudhary, posted the wounded protester’s picture on Facebook, showing him with fractured arms. KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur visited the man and extended wishes for his quick recovery, according to a report on 4 December and a video posted on the politician’s social media.
PTI protests in Islamabad
Imran Khan, the PTI’s founder and former prime minister, had issued a “final call” asking his supporters to gather for a protest at Islamabad’s D-Chowk, a famous location for demonstrations, on 24 November. Party leaders and thousands of the supporters from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab provinces mobilised right away and moved towards the capital.
The PTI stated three demands: the release of all political prisoners, including Khan, reclaiming what they say is a “stolen mandate” from the 2024 general elections, and the reversal of a recent constitutional amendment.
Read more: PTI’s Sher Afzal Marwat has not been arrested, yet
On 26 November, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi issued (archive) stern warnings against entering D-Chowk — which is part of the governmental area called the Red Zone — while police and law enforcement agencies (LEAs) engaged in aggressive crowd control tactics. Pakistan Army troops were deployed (archive) across the capital, especially as Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was visiting to meet (archive) with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the time.
Internet blackouts were reported (archive) in Islamabad and containers set up to block the protesters’ routes. Multiple other cities also experienced slow connectivity or disruptions to social media.
Police also fired (archive) rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters attempting to enter the area. According to some reports, at least six people died (archive) during the confrontations. Some journalists also spoke (archive) of how apparent demonstrators attacked them and their offices. Soch Fact Check is unable to confirm the exact number of casualties and injuries at this time.
In a statement, Amnesty International urged authorities to “exercise maximum restraint” and highlighted “grave violation of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, movement and expression”. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), on the other hand, demanded the government and the PTI to “immediately enter a purposeful political dialogue” and avoid “bringing the country to a standstill” through such protests. It also denounced casualties, whether of protesters or law enforcement officials.
On 27 November, however, the PTI announced that the protest was “temporarily cancelled” in light of what it said was the “government’s brutality” and a “plan to turn the capital [Islamabad] into an execution chamber of unarmed civilians”. The development came hours after party leaders, including Bushra Bibi, Khan’s wife who was leading the demonstrations, and KP CM Gandapur, made a “frantic escape” in the night when authorities launched a raid to disperse the protesters.
However, the same day, Gandapur stated that the protest was continuing and that the final decision was for Khan to make.
The ‘lockdown’ in the federal capital was eventually lifted on 27 November. The Pakistani state-owned outlet PTV quoted Islamabad Inspector General of Police (IGP) Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi as saying that at least 954 suspects were arrested, over 200 vehicles impounded, 39 weapons, including Kalashnikov guns, recovered, over 70 security personnel injured, and more than 165 safe city cameras were damaged.
Khan has threatened a “nationwide civil disobedience movement” if his negotiation team’s two demands — releasing under-trial prisoners and establishing a judicial commission to probe the 9 May 2023 and 26 November 2024 altercations — were not met by the government, according to a 6 December post on his X account.
Casualty figures
The PTI has claimed that 12 of its workers were killed in what it has termed the “Islamabad Massacre”, according to a dossier compiled and distributed by the party. A 27 November report in The Express Tribune quoted medical sources as saying “six civilians” were among the deceased.
Multiple international media outlets, including BBC Urdu, The Guardian, and Al Jazeera, reported on the casualty figures, the state’s alleged move to suppress data from being released to the public, and health professionals who were reportedly barred from speaking to the media due to pressure.
The Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) — one of Islamabad’s two main public hospitals — refused to provide hospital records to the BBC, which quoted the families of those who were injured as saying the facility also denied providing patient files to them. The publication said it had information that the bodies of at least “two PTI workers were brought there”.
PIMS had earlier “confirmed the death of two civilians and injuries to around 60 persons, including security personnel”, according to a 27 November report by Dawn.
Similarly, Islamabad’s second public hospital, the Federal Government Poly Clinic (FGPC), also received the bodies of three people who were shot on 26 November, according to the BBC, which obtained the facility’s records. The publication added that a doctor claimed the police “prevented him from handing over the bodies to the heirs” and that two staffers alleged officers stopped them “from performing post-mortems on the bodies”.
The BBC said it also observed that Rangers and police officers were guarding the hospital’s gates, wards, and emergency rooms at PIMS, while every individual was questioned before they were allowed inside. The staff there, it added, was monitoring everyone’s activities and several doctors revealed “they were under pressure from the police to hand over the injured”.
The Guardian visited hospitals in the capital city and observed some of those who were brought in for treatment. It noted that according to official sources, there were “17 civilian fatalities” from the authorities’ gunfire and “hundreds more had been injured”.
The publication reported the alleged suppression by the state, quoting a doctor on emergency ward duty as saying “at least seven have died and four are in critical condition” and that authorities “confiscated” all records of the people who died and those who were wounded. “We are not allowed to talk. Senior government officials are visiting the hospital to hide the records,” the medic told The Guardian, which added that families of those injured “were too scared to speak”.
Al Jazeera spoke to the families of four PTI workers who were reportedly killed and wrote about the alleged intimidation and harassment they faced by the authorities. The relatives spoke about how the bodies of the deceased were withheld to pressure them into not filing legal cases.
In another report published 1 December, Dawn quoted “a representative from the health authorities [as saying] that they had been barred from speaking on the issue as the interior ministry was dealing with it”. The publication also noted that unnamed doctors at both PIMS and FGPC also pointed out certain “anomalies” in the alleged death certificates of the PTI workers that were circulating on social media.
Journalists targeted
Meanwhile, two journalists — Matiullah Jan and Saqib Bashir — were “abducted” from PIMS’ parking lot on 28 November, according to an X post by the former’s son, who said the unidentified “abductors [came] in an unmarked vehicle”, and multiple international media reports. The latter was let go three hours later. The move was condemned by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Amnesty International, and Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
The CPJ and media reports stated that the First Information Report (FIR) filed by the Islamabad Police against Jan included charges of terrorism, drug possession, and assaulting law enforcement officers — which his lawyer, Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir, said were “absurd”.
The human rights and press freedom groups noted that the detention came about after he reported on the PTI protests and disputed the government’s claims and data on the casualties. They also called for his immediate release and termed the charges trumped-up and politically-motivated.
Bashir said the two of them “were collecting data on the casualties” at PIMS before they were detained, according to Reuters, which also quoted Jan as saying he “was investigating about the (sic) dead bodies”.
Munizae Jahangir, a news anchor and the HRCP’s co-chairperson, said Jan “was reporting from hospitals on those injured & killed from bullet wounds at [the] PTI protest & [it] seems that’s why he has been arrested for his journalistic work”.
Jan was eventually released on 30 November, Mazari-Hazir confirmed on X.
Denials by gov’t, public hospitals
Both PIMS and the FGPC have now denied receiving any dead bodies and issued statements — here and here — terming the reports “fake”. These rebuttals were also referenced by Tarar, the information minister.
The PML-N government has refuted claims of gunshot-related deaths, according to a report, which said Tarar asserted that no demonstrator died due to law enforcement officers’ alleged shooting. He even denied that security personnel were carrying live ammunition on the day.
In other reports, the minister was quoted as saying that the “health department has issued two separate statements confirming this” and blaming “some medical professionals [who] have clearly shown their political affiliation”. He said, “I can definitely confirm that the medical superintendent, hospital in-charge, and the Health Ministry have issued written information about this and they have clearly denied it.”
In a 1 December statement, the Interior Ministry said the figure of fatalities was a “planned and coordinated massive fake propaganda” and those responsible for it “will surely be held accountable under relevant laws”. It added, “Alarmingly, certain elements of foreign media also fell prey to this fake news and propaganda without any credible evidence.”
The ministry also placed blame on the KP government, which is ruled by the PTI and which, it said, “primarily orchestrated and logistically & financially sustained and supported” the protests in Islamabad.
“Alarmingly, PTI’s protest included violent and trained miscreant elements including many illegal Afghan nationals who spearheaded the riots and violent activities throughout the march. These miscreants, employed as violent vanguard, comprised of approximately (sic) 1500 hard core fighters working directly under absconder and proclaimed offender Murad Saeed. […] It must be noted that LEAs personnel, despite sustaining grievous injuries, exhibited [a] high degree of restraint against these violent protesters led by trained miscreants,” the statement noted.
One police officer and three Rangers personnel were killed, the ministry said, adding that “232 LEAs personnel were also grievously injured by these miscreants”. It also accused Gandapur, the provincial chief minister, of making “baseless inflammatory statements”.
According to a report, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) also issued a statement the same day, saying a campaign was “orchestrated to discredit State of Pakistan in general and security forces in particular” and that “multiple domestic and foreign-based media platforms are being used to perpetrate concocted, baseless and inciting news implicating the government of committing serious human rights violations”.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International issued a statement on the reports it received of multiple deaths and mass arrests of demonstrators, with its deputy regional director for South Asia, Babu Ram Pant, calling “for a prompt, thorough, impartial, effective and transparent investigation into the deaths and injuries of protesters as well as the unlawful use of force including lethal and less-lethal weapons by security personnel”.
Soch Fact Check has not yet independently verified the claims by either the PTI or the government and their tallies of casualties comprising party workers and security officials, respectively.
Khan’s imprisonment
Khan has been incarcerated (archive) since 5 August 2023 over various charges, but he has either been acquitted or secured bail in some; the sentence for one charge has been suspended (archived here, here, here, here, and here, respectively).
Various international and local bodies have criticised the PTI founder’s continued detention. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) expressed concerns (archive) over jail conditions and Amnesty International said (archive) it “found several fair trial violations under international human rights standards”, terming his imprisonment “arbitrary detention”.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) has said in an opinion (archive) that Khan’s detention is “arbitrary and in violation of international law”, according to a report (archive).
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check was able to confirm that the incident definitely took place after reviewing footage of the incident posted on social media and shared by mainstream news outlets and matching various elements seen in the different visuals. The footage, shot from the right side of the container, is available to view here and was posted on X (formerly Twitter) by the PTI as well.
The two structures seen in the background are likely part of One Constitution Avenue, a two-tower apartment block, according to an Islamabad-based party supporter who was present at the protests, as well as a photographer and a cinematographer at Soch Videos, our sister company, both of whom analysed the image.
The location of the image, therefore, appears to be somewhere on Islamabad’s Jinnah Avenue, which leads to the Red Zone, an area that houses important government buildings, including the National Assembly and the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
We browsed through the editorial pictures taken by photographers working for The Associated Press, AFP, and Reuters and available on their respective websites.
The AFP pictures for the period between 24 and 27 November 2024 — available on Getty Images here — include two visuals: the first one that shows the man atop the container and the second one depicts him holding on to the container, trying to save himself from falling to the ground.
The first image, which has the editorial number “2186304408” and was taken on 26 November 2024, is credited to AFP photographer Aamir Qureshi and is captioned as follows:
“TOPSHOT – A supporter of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party offers prayers on top of a shipping container as a paramilitary soldier chases him during a protest demanding the release of former prime minister Imran Khan, at the Red Zone area in Islamabad on November 26, 2024. Pakistani protesters demanding the release of ex-prime minister Imran Khan on November 26 killed four members of the nation’s security forces, the government said, as the crowds defied police and closed in on the capital’s centre. (Photo by Aamir QURESHI / AFP) (Photo by AAMIR QURESHI/AFP via Getty Images)”
The second one, which has the editorial number “2186304620” and was taken by the same photographer on the same day, shows the man clinging on to the containers. It is captioned as follows:
“Paramilitary soldiers try to detain a supporter of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on top of a shipping container during a protest demanding the release of former prime minister Imran Khan, at the Red Zone area in Islamabad on November 26, 2024. Pakistani protesters demanding the release of ex-prime minister Imran Khan on November 26 killed four members of the nation’s security forces, the government said, as the crowds defied police and closed in on the capital’s centre. (Photo by Aamir QURESHI / AFP) (Photo by AAMIR QURESHI/AFP via Getty Images)”
Moreover, there is visual evidence of both the security personnel and protesters on the container here, here, and here.
Soch Fact Check also reviewed AFP’s editorial standards and guidelines, which strictly prohibit edited or otherwise manipulated content that may mislead viewers.
Important pointers and certain relevant portions from AFP Editorial Standards and Best Practices, which was published on 18 September 2023, are as follows:
- “AFP photo and TV journalists must not doctor images or videos and must not tamper with or alter subject matter.”
- “Photos and videos must not be staged, manipulated or edited to give a misleading or false picture of events.”
With regards to Artificial Intelligence, AFP states:
- “AFP does not publish content directly created by generative AI in text, images or other formats, but we can use it under certain conditions to help us research and prepare stories.”
- “For images, we must ensure that our freelance and third-party contributors do not provide us with AI-created content.”
- “Avoid distorting reality by editing which gives a misleading impression of the situation (such as a close up of soldiers that makes them look more numerous than they are).”
- “AFP’s news photography must depict reality. Any attempt to alter that reality constitutes fabrication.”
AFP’s rules for image processing using tools such as Adobe Photoshop or other software stress that there must be “no additions or deletions to the subject matter of the original image (thus changing the original content and journalistic integrity of an image)”. It adds that one must “not be tempted to manipulate the image so that it corresponds to the text, which must correspond to what was seen and heard”.
Soch Fact Check also came across a 27 November 2024 report by the BBC, which stated, “BBC Verify has confirmed that the incident took place on Tuesday at the corner of Jinnah and Attaturk avenues in Islamabad, where protesters had gathered.”
Information in the aforementioned report corroborates our finding that the image in question was taken from a location on the left side of Islamabad’s Jinnah Avenue when heading towards the Red Zone, with One Constitution Avenue visible in the background.
‘Liar’s Dividend’
The social media post we are investigating, therefore, appears to be an example of a concept known as “Liar’s Dividend”, which is when deepfakes “make it easier for liars to avoid accountability for things that are in fact true”, as defined in a paper titled “Deep Fakes: A Looming Challenge for Privacy, Democracy, and National Security” and written on 14 July 2018 by University of Texas School of Law Dean Robert Chesney and Distinguished Professor in Law Danielle Keats Citron of the University of Virginia School of Law.
According to the paper, “Deep fakes will prove useful in escaping the truth in another equally pernicious way. Ironically, liars aiming to dodge responsibility for their real words and actions will become more credible as the public becomes more educated about the threats posed by deep fakes. Imagine a situation in which an accusation is supported by genuine video or audio evidence. As the public becomes more aware of the idea that video and audio can be convincingly faked, some will try to escape accountability for their actions by denouncing authentic video and audio as deep fakes. Put simply: a skeptical public will be primed to doubt the authenticity of real audio and video evidence. This skepticism can be invoked just as well against authentic as against adulterated content. Hence what we call the liar’s dividend: this dividend flows, perversely, in proportion to success in educating the public about the dangers of deep fakes.”
In short, as awareness about deepfakes grows among the public, liars might use this knowledge to avoid accountability for their actions by claiming that authentic evidence is fake and fuel distrust. Therefore, “liar’s dividend” is where the more people know about deepfakes, the easier it becomes for liars to avoid taking responsibility.
Soch Fact Check, therefore, concludes that the claim is false.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found the claim posted here, here, here, here, here, and here on Facebook.
One of the most viral posts on Facebook has so far received over 1,500 reactions, more than 1,700 comments, and upwards of 120 comments. The user is a supporter of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the incumbent ruling party and Khan’s rivals, according to their profile intro.
Interestingly, while the accompanying caption starts with “Ai Generated🙃”, indicating its false claim, it then flows into an unrelated copypasta, a technique that is now being commonly used to produce irrelevant informational text to trick social media platforms’ algorithms into promoting said posts to the top of users’ feeds and gain traction.
Conclusion: The picture is authentic and was not generated using AI.
Background image in cover photo: nikko osaka
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