Supporters of Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan tried to grab the streets of the capital Islamabad in October 2024. A video of an enormous demonstration circulating on social media, nevertheless, doesn’t present the latest protest. The video, seen tens of 1000’s of occasions, was truly filmed within the nation’s largest metropolis Karachi and was earlier shared on-line following Khan’s ouster in April 2022.
“D-Chowk Islamabad,” learn the Urdu-language caption alongside the video posted on Fb on October 4, 2024.
“D-Chowk” refers to an interchange in Islamabad situated close to key buildings together with the Parliament Home, Presidential Palace and Supreme Courtroom (archived hyperlink).
The video — seen greater than 100,00 occasions — reveals a big crowd gathered at evening on a large street.
The video was additionally shared alongside the same false declare on YouTube right here and right here.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) get together has been defying a crackdown to needle the federal government with common demonstrations for the reason that former chief was jailed on a number of expenses in 2023.
He insists the fees in opposition to him, a few of them nonetheless pending within the courts, have been designed to forestall him from returning to workplace.
In early October PTI activists started driving to Islamabad from Khan’s powerbase in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, however have been met with delivery container roadblocks and volleys of tear fuel (archived hyperlink).
Small and scattered convoys pressed in on Islamabad in defiance of the federal government, which authorized troops for deployment on the streets.
The circulating video, nevertheless, was filmed in Karachi and doesn’t present the latest demonstration.
Protest in opposition to ouster
A reverse picture search of the video’s keyframes discovered the identical footage posted on Fb on April 11, 2022 as Khan’s supporters protested his ouster by way of a no-confidence movement within the parliament (archived hyperlink).
“Karachi’s resolution, Prime Minister Imran Khan and a self-reliant Pakistan,” learn the submit’s caption.
Under is a screenshot comparability of the video within the false submit (left) and the April 2022 Fb video (proper):
PTI’s verified account on X additionally shared the same clip of the rally on April 11, 2022 with the caption: “Karachi rocked. Expensive Chairman #ImranKhan, thanks for making us a Nation! What we’re seeing throughout Pakistan right this moment is a phenomenon, will always remember!” (archived hyperlink).
On the time, PTI introduced the protest websites included the Millenium Mall in Karachi (archived hyperlink).
AFP confirmed the placement of the video by evaluating it with road imagery on Google Maps of buildings throughout the Millenium Mall (archived hyperlink).
Under is a screenshot comparability of the video within the false submit (left) and its corresponding Google Maps road view (proper) with similarities highlighted:
AFP has repeatedly debunked misinformation about Khan.
