Claim: A video of Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan, saying he has done “whatever [he] could do” and urging people to “take up [their] responsibility”, was taken as he gets treated in a hospital after he was attacked during an anti-government rally in Wazirabad.
Fact: The video is, in fact, more than nine years old and was taken when Imran Khan was hospitalised after falling from a 15-feet-high platform during an election campaign in Lahore.
On 4 November 2022, Twitter user @asadmaliklive posted a video of Pakistan’s former prime minister and chief of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, giving an impassioned comment in an interview with a TV channel. Lying in a hospital bed and wearing a blue patient gown, he implores the public to vote for change.
In his video statement, Khan says, “I did whatever I could do. Now I want you to heed your responsibility. If you wish to make your own destiny, you will have to take up your responsibility. I repeat, I did whatever I could for my country. I did not do anyone any favours. God gave me so much [so] it was my responsibility to do something for my nation. Now, I want everyone to do all that they can to make their lives better.
“On the 11th, consider this your own fight. It’s not just my fight. It’s the entire country’s fight. You have to change your own — and your children’s — destiny. You have to fight the fight for your children’s futures. You have to decide if you wish to continue like this or you wish to create a ‘Naya Pakistan’.”
The post by @asadmaliklive — “قاتلانہ حملے کے بعد ہسپتال سے خان صاحب کا سوشل میڈیا پر جذباتی بیان۔ [Mr. Khan’s emotional statement from the hospital after an assassination attempt appears on social media.]” — comes a day after the former premier was apparently shot in the leg in Wazirabad, an incident his party leaders claimed was an assassination attempt.
Many believe this video is recent as the PTI also announced that Khan “will address the nation today”.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check used TinEye Reverse Image Search to ascertain the origin of the video and found that it is from over nine years ago.
On 8 May 2013, during an election campaign, Khan fell from an approximately 15-feet-high platform, with news reported by local and international media outlets widely at that time.
In his video statement, the cricketer-turned-politician encouraged people to vote on the 11th, which is a reference to Pakistan’s general elections that were held on 11 May 2013.
Reports about the original incident can be found on the YouTube channels of various channels, including euronews, Al Jazeera English, ABP News, and The Telegraph, among others.
Old picture of Imran Khan wrongly used in Nov 2022 attack reports
Soch Fact Check had investigated the same video when it emerged on Facebook with the wrong claim that Imran Khan suffered a serious injury — possibly a spinal cord fracture — after falling from an elevator.
Further, Soch Fact Check debunked another old picture of Imran Khan that made the rounds yesterday following the gun attack on his rally.
Virality
The video posted by @asadmaliklive has been viewed 8399 times. A screenshot from the 2013 video was also shared by the Facebook pages ‘Kashmir Crown Live’ and ‘Kashmir Crown’.
Conclusion: A video of Imran Khan from 2013, when he fell from a 15-feet-high platform during an election campaign in Lahore, has been reshared with the false claim that the PTI chief gave an impassioned statement from the hospital after a gun attack attempt on 3 November 2022.