Claim: A video of several men fighting on a road is being shared online as evidence of the growing lawlessness in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Fact: The claim is misleading as the video is from 2016 and being reshared out of context.
On 16 December 2024, an X user who identifies as a supporter of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), shared a video (archive) with the caption,
خیبر پختونخواہ میں سرکاری گاڑی کو اوور ٹیک کرنے پر باپ اور بیٹے طیش میں آ گئے- اسلحہ سمیت گاڑی سے اتر آے- دوسری پارٹی کو زدوکوب کیا, گالیاں دیں اور فائر تک کھول دیا-
صوبے کا یہ شر پسند مائنڈ سیٹ پورے معاشرے کیلئے تو نقصان دہ ہے ہی لیکن یہ اپنے ہی ہاتھوں خیبر پختونخواہ کو برباد کر کے رکھ دیگا–
Translated [Father and son got angry after overtaking a government vehicle in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – got out of the vehicle with weapons – beat up the other party, abused them and even opened fire.
This evil mindset of the province is not only harmful to the entire society, but it will destroy Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with its own hands.]
The same video was also widely shared on Facebook with one user saying that “When the chief minister of a province’s favourite job is to threaten, bully and promote the use of arms, the behavior of junior government officials is not surprising.”
The caption refers to the statement made by the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ali Amin Gandapur against Governor rule in the province after PTI’s ‘Final Call’ protest and clashes in November 2024.
Final Call Protest
In November 2024, Pakistan witnessed another set of roadblocks and clashes after Imran Khan, the jailed founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and former prime minister, called on his supporters to converge for a protest at D-Chowk in Islamabad on 24 November 2024. The protest was called against the alleged rigging in the 2024 general elections and to demand that Khan and his jailed supporters be released. In response, hundreds of thousands of party supporters and leaders began mobilising from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and parts of Punjab towards the capital.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi issued stern warnings against entering D-Chowk, with the police and law enforcement agencies deploying aggressive crowd control tactics. Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters attempting to enter the area, actions which critics argue violated the right to peaceful assembly. On the other hand, the government condemned “attacks by protesters”. Human rights organisation Amnesty International released a statement calling on the Pakistani government to show restraint as the internet was suspended in Islamabad, making it harder to verify the number of casualties and injuries.
Racial Profiling of Pashtuns
Many Afghans were arrested following the protest, an act that has been condemned by some human right activist and lawyers as an act of “racial profiling” of Pakhtuns.
However, this is not the first time Pashtuns are alleging racial profiling. In 2017, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) condemned the racial profiling of Pashtuns by the PML-N led government after a surge in terror attacks.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check investigated the video as the tweet and the Facebook post did not include any other information or context regarding the incident, such as a date or location, although the captions implied that it occurred recently.
To investigate, we conducted a reverse image search on the video keyframes on Google Lens. The result led to a news article published by Dunya News on 17 June 2016. The headline reads, “Teenager pulls M-16 rifle during road rage incident in Peshawar”. The article shows a screengrab of the viral video and further reads that a man driving a government vehicle was overtaken by a motorcyclist which led to him fighting with the men. It further says the man driving the car has been identified as a political agent from Kurram Agency.
The Express Tribune in an article published on 17 June 2016 mentioned that “a former political muharrar of Kurram Agency carrying a fake service card, who allegedly fired at man following a verbal dispute in Peshawar was arrested”. The article also features a press release citing that the man was using a fake ID plate and license and was fired from service in March 2016. The minor boy with the rifle is Imran – the accused’s son who pointed the rifle at the other party.
24 News HD also reported on the incident in a video report on 17 June 2016 which includes the same footage as the viral video. Dawn News also reported that the accused was arrested for threatening others in a Peshawar road rage incident.
Soch Fact Check, therefore, concludes that the video is old and the man was using a fake license plate showing himself as a government official.
Virality
On X, the video received 339.1k views, 2000 reposts and 1100 comments. It was mostly posted by PML-N supporters and the archived versions can be seen here, here, and here.
The video was also posted here, here and here on Facebook.
Conclusion: Video of a road range incident showing an alleged government official firing at the citizen is not recent. The video is from 2016 and the accused was using a fake license plate and was arrested by the police.
Background image in cover photo: Naya Daur
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com