Claim: A gunman who opened fire at former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s container at a rally in Wazirabad is PTI MNA Alamgir Khan’s private guard.
Fact: Alamgir Khan has refuted claims doing the rounds on social media. He said his security guard Muhammad Poonal Khan was misidentified by people as the attacker and arrested by police.
Fact or Fiction?
On 3 November 2022, a gunman opened fire on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Imran Khan’s container during the party’s long march in Wazirabad, injuring Khan and other senior party members. The same day, journalist Waqar Satti tweeted that the gunman has been identified as M Naveed, a guard of PTI MNA Alamgir Khan.
The claim is false. Alamgir Khan confirmed to Soch Fact Check that the crowd mistook his private security guard, Muhammad Poonal Khan, for the attacker and handed him over to police.
“The convoy led by me and Ali Zaidi from Karachi reached Wazirabad four to five minutes after the attack. There was chaos and people were running towards us. We tried to help arrange ambulances. In this process, my guard and I got separated and people mistook him for the attacker,” Alamgir said.
Punjab IT Minister Dr Arsalan Khalid also confirmed to Soch Fact Check that Alamgir’s guard was arrested but released later.
Responding to a Twitter user who shared a picture of a man in black, Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) leader Moonis Elahi clarified that “He is Punal Khan, a guard of Pti mna Alamgir khan sb who was captured as he had a gun on him. He was released after his ID was verified. Let’s not get carried away.”
The former prime minister sustained multiple bullet injuries in his leg after a man opened fire on his container at Allahwala Chowk in Wazirabad, Punjab, during the ‘Haqeeqi Azadi’ march in what his supporters describe as an assassination attempt. Revealing details about his injury, Khan said that he was shot four times, with two bullets hitting each of his legs.
He also shared that one person was killed and 11 others, including party leaders and workers, were injured in the attack. He was leading a protest march to Islamabad to demand immediate elections.
The police later released a ‘confessional video’ of the suspect, who was immediately arrested after the attack from the crime scene, in custody.
Virality
Soch Fact Check conducted a CrowdTangle analysis for the 7-days period from 1 Nov – 6 Nov using the following search term:
- مجرم پی ٹی آئی کے ایم این اے عالمگیر خان کا سیکیورٹی گارڈ ہے
- عمران خان پر گولیاں چلانیوالا MNA عالمگیر خان کا گارڈ ہے
The search terms also included information focusing on the alleged shooter and falsely linking him as a guard of Alamgir Khan.
The first search term garnered 3,430 interactions across 117 posts on Facebook within hours of the incident. It can be seen here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
The claim was also linked with an alleged video confession and images of the suspected shooters on Facebook. The misleading caption can be found here, here, and here.
The second search term received 2,250 interactions across 77 posts on Facebook and with most interactions is available here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Journalist Gharida Farooqi first claimed that the alleged shooter was Alamgir Khan’s guard. The archived version of the misleading tweet can be found here.
Conclusion: The posts claiming that the alleged shooter who attacked Imran Khan in Wazirabad was Alamgir Khan’s guard is false. Alamgir’s guard was arrested but later released after the police arrested the prime suspect from the crime scene.