Imran Khan was ousted as Prime Minister of Pakistan on April 10, 2022, following a vote of no confidence in the National Assembly. Khan had held protest rallies around the country since then, attracting audiences in the tens of thousands. According to media reports, Imran Khan’s political party held an ‘Azadi March’ in Islamabad on May 26, which led to the deployment of the Pakistan Army in the capital city and tear gas shelling.
Against this backdrop, a video is being widely shared on social media, claiming that it shows visuals of the ‘worst tear gas shelling’ in Islamabad after the ‘Azadi March’.
The video is shared on Facebook with a caption in the Urdu language: “اسلام آباد میں صبح کا آغاز اور بد ترین آنسو گیس کی شیلنگ۔” (English translation: Morning starts in Islamabad and worst tear gas shelling)
Here’s the link to the above post.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the above claim, and found it to be MISLEADING.
Putting the keyframes through Reverse Image Search, the results directed us to a tweet, dated February 10, 2021, that carried the same viral video reading: “#Islamabad D Chowk right now #EmployeesProtest.” This clearly means that the video is old and not related to recent protests in Islamabad.
#Islamabad D Chowk right now#EmployeesProtest pic.twitter.com/5RKYOVQM7S
— Asma Shirazi (@asmashirazi) February 10, 2021
The same video was also uploaded by another Twitter user on February 10, 2021, with the caption: “A few years ago, when Imran Khan’s party attacked PTV & Parliament in Islamabad, the protesters were not treated like that. Adopting democratic traditions is not easy for everyone.”
Taking a cue from this, we did a keyword search and found the same video uploaded on the official Instagram page of Dawn Today on February 10, 2021, with the caption: “Clouds of smoke are seen as Islamabad police resort to tear gas shelling amid an ongoing protest by government employees for a pay raise in the capital.”
View this post on Instagram
Gulf Today also carried the same viral visuals on February 11, 2021, with the text: “Islamabad police fire tear gas shells to disperse protesting government employees demanding pay raise.”
Thus, it is evident from the above information that an old video of government employees’ protests is being falsely linked to recent unrest in Islamabad post Imran Khan ‘Azadi March’.
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