Claim: An image shows Pakistan’s national flag being burned in Kurram district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Fact: The claim is false as the image is not recent or from Pakistan. The image is from 2013 when protesters in Afghanistan set Pakistan’s flag on fire after border clashes between the two countries.
On 20 January 2025, a user on X shared an image with the caption,
آج ضلع کرم بگن کے علاقے میں بگن کے عوام یعنی وہاں کے مقامی تکفیری دہشت گردوں نے دن دیہاڑیے پاکستان کے جھنڈے کو آگ لگا دی
کیا یہ واقعہ 9 مئی سے زیادہ توہین امیز نہیں ؟
ریاست کی خاموشی
Translation [Today, in the Bagan area of Kurram district, the people of Bagan, i.e. the local Takfiri (unbeliever) terrorists there, set fire to the Pakistani flag in broad daylight.
Isn’t this incident more insulting than May 9th?
The State is silent.]
The image shows a group of men burning the Pakistani flag.
Security operations in Kurram
On 19 January 2025, Pakistan security forces launched an operation in the northwest Kurram district to clear the area of any militants. According to Arab News, the operation would begin in the Bagan area of Kurram district and would be supported by the elite force, local police, and other security forces. The government has also set up temporary camps to accommodate the temporarily displaced persons due to a possible offensive against miscreants in Bagan, Mandori, Charkhel, Chapri Paraw and Chapri areas.
As of 22 January, illegal weapons have been recovered during the operation and it is considered to be a step forward to ensure peace in the conflicted area after the November 2024 deadly attacks.
Sectarian Violence in Kurram
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kurram district shares a border with Afghanistan and has long experienced sectarian strife between Shia and Sunni communities. In 2007, a fierce sectarian war broke out when the Sunni Taliban attempted to conquer Parachinar; more than 3,000 people died and thousands more sustained injuries.
While the severity of the conflict had reduced for some time, 2017 was marked by another uptick in violence. Both sides used a variety of methods, including sophisticated assault weapons, suicide bombings, and targeted assassinations.
In 2023 again, minor incidents escalated into major sectarian conflicts, often fuelled by misinformation. On 4 July 2023, a Sunni van driver was shot dead near Norki village in Tiri Mangal, a predominantly Sunni area. Although the incident stemmed from a personal dispute, false narratives insinuated that Shia individuals had perpetrated violence against Sunnis, fuelling the sectarian divide. This misinformation led to heightened tensions and, shortly after, an attack on a government school in Tiri Mangal, where Shia staff from Parachinar were targeted, resulted in seven fatalities.
In July 2024, a land dispute between Shia and Sunni tribes escalated, resulting in prolonged violence in the region, according to Dawn. By 30 July 2024, as many as 49 people were killed and 200 others were injured, reported Dawn.
In November 2024, violence erupted once again in Kurram when gunmen opened fire on convoys carrying Shia pilgrims. The attack killed 52 people, including women and children. To reduce the tensions in the area, Pakistan’s government officials brokered a seven-day ceasefire, but it failed to hold.
As of December 2024, more than 130 people have been killed in the deadly attacks, according to Reuters. Meanwhile, a curfew imposed in the area, disconnecting Parachinar from the rest of the country, has made life more difficult for the vulnerable communities.
Fact or Fiction?
To investigate the claim, Soch Fact Check conducted a reverse image search on Google Lens. The initial result led to an article published by an online Indian news platform named Muslim Mirror on 20 August 2016. The article’s headline reads, “Border shut after Afghans burn Pakistani flag”. The same image as that of the viral post was featured in the article. However, it was not attributed to any news agency or photographer. The article mentions that Pakistan had closed its border with Afghanistan indefinitely after a group of Afghan demonstrators attacked the Friendship Gate at Chaman and set the Pakistani flag on fire.
To check whether the image is from Pakistan, we conducted a keyword search with the phrases “Pakistani flag, burn, Afghanistan border clash”. The results turned up an image uploaded by Reuters on 14 May 2013. The image is the same as that of the viral post and its description reads, “Afghan protesters set fire to a Pakistan flag during a demonstration against recent border clashes between Afghanistan and Pakistan, in Kunar province. May 14, 2013. REUTERS/Parwiz”
A different angle of the same image was also shared by the stock image website Shutterstock on 14 May 2013. The description reads, “Afghan People burn Pakistani Flag during a protest in Asadabad district of Kunar province in Afghanistan [on] 14 May 2013. Reports state that hundreds of residents of Kunar province from different districts protested against cross border rocket attacks allegedly by Pakistan.”
Kunar is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country. In May 2013, Pakistan launched airstrikes in Kunar province of Afghanistan allegedly targeting the Taliban seeking refuge in Afghanistan which led to an escalation of tensions between the two countries.
Soch Fact Check also noticed that the protesters in the image were carrying Afghanistan’s national flag and a poster of former Afghan Prime Minister Hamid Karzai whose time in office ended in September 2014.
Therefore, we conclude that the picture is not from the Kurram district or any other area of Pakistan. Moreover, it is not recent and dates as far back as 2013.
Virality
On X, the image garnered 13,800 views, 377 likes and 184 reposts. It was also shared here.
The image was also shared here, here and here on Facebook.
Conclusion: An image showing protesters setting the Pakistani flag on fire is not from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kurram district. The picture is actually from 2013 when protesters in Afghanistan set Pakistan’s flag on fire after border clashes between the two countries.
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Background image in cover photo: AFP
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