Claim: An image of a man wearing a PTI scarf and holding a weapon at what appears to be a political gathering is being shared on social media with a caption imploring people not to bring weapons to political rallies. The image began to circulate on 25 May 2022, after PTI workers and supporters began a long march (termed the ‘Haqeeqi Azadi March’) to Islamabad in protest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s recent ouster. Some pages that shared the image explicitly linked it to the Azadi march.
Fact: The posts are misleading. The image is in fact of a PTI worker at a protest in Peshawar in 2013. The image is not connected in any way to the recent Azadi March.
On 25 May 2022, journalist Hamid Mir tweeted the image in question with the caption, “Please please don’t bring weapons in political rallies. Weapon is a threat not only to human lives but also a threat to your political ideology.” The tweet came shortly after PTI workers and supporters began a long march towards Islamabad on Imran Khan’s call.
Fact or Fiction?
While Mir’s tweet does not explicitly claim that the image is from the Azadi March, it was posted shortly after the March began, creating the impression that the image was in fact connected to the event. In addition, some pages that reshared the post explicitly linked the image to the Azadi March, including the website “India Narrative”, which published an article on the long march featuring the image.
Soch Fact Check investigated the source of the image after observing that a number of people commented on Hamid Mir’s tweet pointing out that the image is not from 2022 but rather several years old.
Soch Fact Check found that journalist Asma Shirazi tweeted the image in December 2014, linking it to the PTI Azadi March held from August 2014 to December 2014.
The image in fact dates even further back. Soch Fact Check conducted a reverse image search and found that the image was shared as early as August 2013 by Express Urdu Newspaper. The image shared in the newspaper was accompanied by the caption:
پشاور: لوڈ شیڈنگ کے خلاف احتجاج کے دوران پی ٹی آئی کے کارکن نے اسلحہ کمر کے پیچھے چھپا رکھا ہے۔
[“Peshawar: A PTI worker hid his weapon behind his back during a protest against load shedding.”]
A screenshot of the newspaper web version can be seen below:
E-Newspaper in with date and image from 2013
Zoom version of the newspaper image
The image appears to resurface periodically, including in 2014 and now in 2022.
In a report on the recent Azadi march, Dawn News specifically clarified that the image is not connected to the march, despite posts claiming otherwise.
Virality
To investigate the virality of the post, Soch Fact Check conducted a CrowdTangle analysis. A search of the words, “Please please don’t bring weapons in political rallies”, turned up 10 relevant posts on Facebook, which garnered 500 interactions between 25 May – 26 May.
The image was shared here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here on Facebook.
Conclusion: The viral image in question is not from the 2022 Haqeeqi Azadi March/Long March organized by PTI. The image is, in fact, from a protest held in Peshawar in 2013.