Claim: The PTI’s protest in November 2024 was the “largest march in Pakistan’s history”, according to international media outlets, especially Al Jazeera.
Fact: The caption is misleading and the accompanying video does not make any such claim. In the clip from Al Jazeera’s “Inside Story,” host Bernard Smith does not claim that the PTI held the “largest march in Pakistan’s history”; in fact, he observed that the protest looked like the biggest one since the 2024 general elections.
On 26 November 2024, user @ShahzadGill202 posted (archive) a video on X (formerly Twitter), showing an Al Jazeera anchorperson talking about the November protest by supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) that took place after a “final call” was issued by the party’s founder and former prime minister, Imran Khan.
Alongside the video, @ShahzadGill202 wrote:
“پاکستان کی تاریخ کا سب سے بڑا مارچ اس وقت پاکستان میں نکالا جا رہا ہے۔۔انٹرنیشنل میڈیا کی رپورٹنگ۔۔
[The largest march in Pakistan’s history is currently being held in Pakistan. International media reporting.]”
This is not the first time @ShahzadGill202 has made a false or misleading claim; Soch Fact Check has debunked claims made by the same user multiple times in the past.
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.
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) deployed aggressive crowd control tactics. Pakistan Army troops were deployed (archive) across the capital, especially as Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was visiting to meet (archive) Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the time.
Internet blackouts were reported (archive) in the city and containers set up to block the protesters’ routes. Multiple other cities also experienced slow connectivity or disruptions to social media.
Read more: PTI’s Sher Afzal Marwat has not been arrested, yet
Police also fired (archive) rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters attempting to enter the area. According to 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 found that the clip, posted along the caption, is a snippet from the Al Jazeera English programme “Inside Story”, hosted by Bernard Smith. The relevant episode, titled “Islamabad under a security lockdown due to political unrest | Inside Story,” is over 27 minutes long and was published on 25 November 2024.
The video, which was also included in Al Jazeera’s live blog (archive) on the PTI’s November protests, is available to watch on the outlet’s website and YouTube.
The caption on Al Jazeera’s website includes the following phrase: “Pakistan is witnessing arguably the biggest protest since February’s disputed elections.” The one on its YouTube channel states: “Pakistan’s capital is sealed off. Security forces have been deployed to stop Imran Khan’s supporters from marching into Islamabad. They’re demanding the former prime minister be released from jail and the government resign. Could this lead to more political instability?”
The remark by Smith, which is heard in the viral social media posts as well, comes at the 41-second mark. The host says, “Tens of thousands of people have reached the outskirts of Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, in what is looking like the biggest protest march since February’s disputed election.”
This confirms that neither Al Jazeera nor its host claimed that the PTI held the “largest march in Pakistan’s history”. The outlet only made an observation that it looked like the biggest rally since the 2024 general elections only.
‘Biggest’ march claims, data
According to data from some sources, less than 11,000 people took part in the PTI’s November 2024 protests.
AFP kept the number of protesters around 10,000. In one report, it said “its journalists saw 10,000 clashing with the police” and in another, it reported that “more than 10,000 protesters surged into the city on the weekend”.
In its 26 November report, The Associated Press quoted security officials as saying the number of protesters they expected was “between 9,000 and 11,000” but that the PTI forecast it to be “much higher”.
The Guardian noted in a 25 November report that a “convoy of tens of thousands of supporters of the PTI” started heading towards Islamabad on 22 November. The same article quoted PTI Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram as saying that over 70,000 people arrived from KP alone.
ABC News reported that on the fourth day of protests, “thousands of supporters” of Khan had arrived at Islamabad’s perimeter.
Also read: Crowd size of PTI protest at Karachi’s Millenium Mall overstated
It is noteworthy, however, that Khan’s 2014 sit-in — which comprised rallies and protests en route to Islamabad and lasted 126 days — was likely one of the biggest in the country’s history. The PTI itself claimed that one of its events at Minar-e-Pakistan was the “biggest jalsa ever”; Khan asserted that the crowd size was “around 700,000 to 1,100,000”.
According to Swarthmore College’s Global Nonviolent Action Database project, PTI marches in 2014 included one with 150,000 people in Karachi and another with 250,000 people in Lahore. The non-profit research institute Asia Centre estimated the crowd to be between 50,000 to 100,000.
The Wall Street Journal, Express Tribune, and The New York Times in their respective reporting from August to September 2014 said the crowd at different rallies had comprised “tens of thousands”, “roughly 80,000 to 100,000”, and “thousands” of supporters, respectively.
In an August 2014 report by The Guardian, the combined number of protesters participating in the PTI’s sit-in and a rally by Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) founder Tahirul Qadri was put at 30,000.
The same month, Express Tribune published a report citing data from security establishment, police, Special Branch, and Home Department; from these sources, the highest estimate was 30,000 for the PTI and 32,000 for the PAT.
It is also noteworthy that many of the reports from 2014 included numbers from particular rallies or individual cities, making it harder to estimate the total number of people during the entire period of the PTI’s sit-in.
Therefore, it is also very unlikely that the PTI’s November 2024 protest was the “biggest in Pakistan’s history” when its own sit-in in 2014 pulled a large number of people.
Virality
The post by @ShahzadGill202 has been viewed over 4,500 times so far.
Soch Fact Check found the false claim posted here, here, here, here, and here on Facebook. It was also shared on YouTube here.
One Facebook post stated that “international media, including BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, [as well as media in] Turkey, Russia, Germany, Arab [region]” also termed PTI’s November 2024 protests “the biggest march in the history of Pakistan”. However, we found no evidence that aforementioned outlets published such a claim.
Conclusion: The caption is misleading and the accompanying video does not make any such claim. Al Jazeera did not claim that the PTI held the “largest march in Pakistan’s history” nor did the host of its programme “Inside Story,” Bernard Smith, make such a comment. He only observed that the protest looked like the biggest one since the 2024 general elections.
Background image in cover photo: PTIOfficial
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com