Claim: An image shows an army soldier pointing a gun towards protesters during a demonstration held by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in November 2024.
Fact: The image appears to be AI-generated.
On 30 November, a Threads user posted a photo (archive) apparently showing a Pakistani soldier pointing a gun towards the protesters. The description reads: “Our own people killed us. Napak (impure) Army killing the innocents.” The image also depicts dead bodies scattered on the road.
The caption suggests that the image depicts the clashes between PTI supporters and security forces on 26 November, when the army was called in to disperse protesters at D-Chowk.
Soch Fact Check has previously debunked AI-generated images of PTI protests here and here.
PTI protests in Islamabad
On the night of 26 November security forces cracked down on Imran Khan’s supporters and PTI workers who had rallied to Islamabad to demand his release.
Video reports by Al Jazeera and AFP show security forces shelling at the demonstrators. An Al Jazeera journalist, who was reporting on the clashes, said the security forces used live fire.“They are using assault rifles, these are Kalashnikovs, AK47s…” One witness who spoke to NPR said that she heard “bullets being shot at people.”
Khan’s party members say that at least 12 PTI supporters were killed in clashes with security forces, and several were injured. Four security personnel were also killed in the clashes. The Guardian, citing official sources, reported at least “17 civilian fatalities from army and paramilitary gunfire.” Additionally, some injured brought to the hospital had bullet wounds, according to Voicepk.
However, exact numbers of deaths and injuries are still difficult to verify as authorities reportedly suppressed the evidence of deaths coming out of hospitals.
The government initially denied the death toll cited by the PTI, only to backtrack its stance a few days later and state that “four to five” were dead.
“The severe restrictions on assembly, movement and mobile and internet services as well as arbitrary detentions of thousands of protesters across Pakistan, particularly in Islamabad, are a grave violation of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, movement and expression,” said Amnesty International in a statement released on 26 November.
Previously, PTI’s rally in Islamabad in early October 2024, demanding the release of Khan, also escalated into clashes between the security forces and his supporters.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check analysed the image and found that it has all the tell-tale signs of AI-generation software.
First, people’s faces on the left and right sides of the road are blurred and barely visible, which suggests that AI failed to generate human features.
Similarly, the three dead bodies scattered on the road are missing hands, and feet, and their faces are blurred.
The Pakistani flag on the top-right corner should have one star in place of two, which is not the case. Moreover, an orange signboard behind the soldier has an inscription in the Hindi or Bengali language, and not in Urdu – signboards in Hindi or Bengali script are not found anywhere in Islamabad, or normally anywhere in Pakistan as it is not one of the spoken languages here.
Finally, we ran the image through True Media’s AI detector which returned the verdict that it has “substantial evidence of manipulation,” based on its criteria of detecting AI-generated content. The result is shown below:
Soch Fact Check, therefore, concludes the image in the claim is not an authentic visual from PTI’s November protests in Islamabad. It appears to be AI-generated.
Virality
The image appeared on X here, here (first image), here, here, here, here, here.
Conclusion: The image of a soldier aiming a gun at PTI protesters, with dead bodies scattered on the road, is not authentic. It appears to be AI-generated.
Background image in cover photo: Al Jazeera
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