Claim: A video shows a large number of people gathered at Zaman Park in Lahore to stop Imran Khan from being arrested.
Fact: The clip is old and does not show Zaman Park. It is from a protest against Khan’s ouster back in April 2022 when his supporters gathered near Millennium Mall in Karachi.
On 14 March 2023, Facebook user ‘Wasiq Khan’ shared a video (archive) with a caption claiming it shows supporters of Imran Khan gathering at the former prime minister’s residence in Zaman Park (archive), Lahore, in a bid to prevent him from being detained by police on orders of a court to arrest and present him at a later hearing.
Imran Khan — the chief of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and former prime minister — has been absent in the past few hearings of the Toshakhana case, in which a district and sessions court in Islamabad on 13 March issued (archive) arrest warrants for the chief of the PTI. His arrest warrants in other cases have been suspended.
The video posted by ‘Wasiq Khan’ is captioned as follows:
“بریکنگ نیوز – خبر ہے کہ عوام کی اتنی تعداد دیکھ کر عمران خان کو ہیلی کاپٹر کے ذریعے گرفتار کر کے لانے کا آرڈر دے دیا گیا ہے۔
[Breaking News – There are reports that after seeing such a large number of people, an order has been given to arrest Imran Khan and bring him by helicopter.]”
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse-searched keyframes from the viral clip, with the results turning up YouTube videos such as this, this, and this, all of which are from 11 April 2022.
Indian media outlet Deccan Herald had also carried a similar photo of the 2022 protest near Millennium Mall, Karachi.
We also recognised the video as the one that we fact-checked back in May 2022, when the text accompanying it had claimed that over 200,000 people attended a protest held in Karachi on 11 April 2022, following Imran Khan’s removal as the prime minister of Pakistan.
Read more: Karachi protest over Imran Khan’s ouster did not attract 200,000 people
In the video that went viral on 14 March 2023, the footage clearly shows Millennium Mall and its surroundings.
Virality
As of writing time, the video posted by ‘Wasiq Khan’ has been viewed more than 30,000 times; it also received over 3,000 reactions, 100 comments, and 1,400 shares.
Soch Fact Check found that the video was shared here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here on Facebook.
On Twitter, on the other hand, it was shared here, here, and here. Salman Ahmad — the Sufi rock musician who is a member of the Junoon band and a PTI supporter — also posted the clip (archive).
Conclusion: The clip is from a protest against Khan’s ouster back in April 2022 when his supporters had gathered near Millennium Mall in Karachi. It is neither recent nor from Zaman Park.
Background image in cover photo: @PTIOfficial