Claim: A Twitter image shows a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) worker hanging out the window of a van with a weapon in his hand during the recent rally on 8 March in Lahore.
Fact: The claim is false. The image is doctored; the man pictured is not holding a weapon. Moreover, the picture is from a 2014 PTI protest in Islamabad.
On 8 March 2023, journalist Mubasher Lucman posted an image on Twitter with the caption, “PTI is a law-abiding party.” The image features a man purportedly holding a weapon in a van of Lahore Transport Company.
The image was posted on 8 March during a PTI rally where party workers and police clashed in Lahore.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check conducted a reverse image search on Google Lens and found a news story published on 15 August 2014 by eNCA, also known as eNews Channel Africa.
The image caption reads, “Supporters of Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) or Movement for Justice arrive in Islamabad to take part in Azadi (Freedom) march on August 15, 2014.”
The same image can be seen in the news story but without any weapon in the hand of the man. On the banner at the back of the van, the words “Azadi March” can also be seen which also shows that the image is not recent but years old.
Soch Fact Check also spoke with a photoshop expert who also asserted that the gun is digitally added to the image. The hands of the man are not visible in the doctored version, while they can be clearly observed in the original image.
Virality
The image with the false claim has been shared here, here, on Twitter, and here and here on Facebook.
Conclusion: The image showing a PTI worker holding a weapon is not from 8 March 2023 rally in Lahore. The image is photoshopped to add the gun and is originally from the 2014 Azadi March in Islamabad.