Claim: Social media posts, particularly by Facebook user Muhammad Atif, allege that Pakistani students were killed during recent mob violence in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, starting from 18 May 2024.
Fact: Despite reports of violent clashes impacting Pakistani students in Bishkek, there is no verified evidence to support the claims of deaths among them. Al Jazeera referred to the reported deaths as “rumours” in a 20 May 2024 article. The Kyrgyz government and the Pakistan Embassy in Kyrgyzstan have both confirmed that no Pakistani student fatalities occurred. The image circulated with the claim is unrelated to the events in Bishkek, depicting a 2021 stabbing incident in Karachi instead.
Since 18 May 2024, Bishkek, the capital city of Kyrgyzstan, has been the site of violent clashes between student groups. Social media has been rife with claims regarding the safety of Pakistani students caught in the conflict.
On the same day, 18 May 2024, Facebook user Muhammad Atif and other social media users began circulating posts claiming that (archive) 13 Pakistani students were killed amid the mob violence in Bishkek.
These posts also makes allegations of sexual assault or rape and claims that Egyptian students were involved in the initial altercation. It is important to note that this fact-check does not investigate these claims, only the assertion that Pakistani students were killed.
Fact or Fiction?
The claim that Pakistani students died during the mob violence lacks evidence and has been denied by official sources on both sides. While it is true that clashes erupted among student groups since 18 May 2024, affecting Pakistani students, there is no substantiated evidence to support the severe allegations being circulated.
Al Jazeera, in its 20 May 2024 article, categorised the reports of Pakistani student deaths as “rumours.” The Kyrgyz government has officially stated that no Pakistani student lost their life in the incidents of that week. Reinforcing this stance, the Pakistan Embassy in Kyrgyzstan issued a press release on X, explicitly stating that there are no confirmed reports concerning the deaths of Pakistani students in the country. Pakistan’s Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, Hassan Zaigham, in a conversation with Arab News on 19 May 2024, affirmed, “No Pakistani was killed”.
Geo Fact Check also assessed whether Pakistani students died in Bishkek on 18 May 2024, providing an update on the condition of Pakistani students in the region, and they reported that after contacting Pakistani students in Bishkek via telephone, they were unable to confirm any instances of casualties.
Adding to the misinformation is an image depicting a young man in a hospital bed attached to the post being fact-checked, which has been incorrectly associated with the events in Bishkek. A reverse image search conducted by Soch Fact Check revealed that the image is from a separate incident, specifically a stabbing in Karachi’s Falcon Complex in 2021, and has no connection to the recent violence in Kyrgyzstan.
The alleged image of the injured student in Bishkek is actually from a 2021 stabbing incident in Karachi, Pakistan.
Similarly, Logically Facts has contributed to the fact-checking efforts, identifying and correcting other visuals that have been wrongly associated with the events in Bishkek. These images, often shared widely across social media platforms, have been taken out of context or are completely unrelated to the incidents in Kyrgyzstan, highlighting the pervasive issue of fake news and the importance of verifying information before dissemination.
Virality
The claim has gained traction online, with the post by Muhammad Atif receiving more than 100 interactions, and dozens of similar posts making the same claim (Such as here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here). Similar posts have spread across X, amassing more than 500,000 views collectively.
Conclusion: The widespread social media claims about Pakistani students dying in Bishkek are unsubstantiated. Official statements and news reports confirm that while the clashes have affected Pakistani students, there have been no deaths or sexual assaults as claimed in the viral posts. The image used to support the claim is misleading and unrelated to the incident in question.
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Background image in cover photo: ANKASAM
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