Authors
In the wake of Imran Khan’s victory in the recent by-elections held in Pakistan, many social media users are sharing old images and videos on social media claiming to show use of brutal force by the PTI leader during his tenure as the PM. One such video claims that Imran Khan ordered forceful dispersion of a procession on the occasion of Milad-Un-Nabi when he headed the government. Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.
Khan won 6 out of 8 seats in By-elections in Pakistan’s three provinces including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Karachi. Soon after, the hashtag #Bloody_Beast_Imran_Khan started tending on Twitter Pakistan.
Several twitter users have shared an Image with the claim that security forces used force against the people when they were out for Eid Milad procession.
One of the twitter users @PyaraAbdullah has shared a picture with caption “No protest, no sit-in, no demand, 4 Muslim Pakistanis were martyred for the crime of taking out a Milad procession only in Rabial Awwal after taking permission from the High Court”.
Several other users have also shared the same picture with the same claim.
Archive links to the tweets here, here and here
Fact Check/ Verification
Newschecker conducted a reverse image search of the viral picture and found the image old and unrelated to the Milad procession.
During the research we found several links to the reports carrying the same image claiming that the picture is from 2017 protest against the then Law minister for alleged blasphemy against Islam.
A report by abc.net.au claimed that the activists of a hard-liner Islamist political party, Tehreek-e-Labaik activists were demanding the removal of law minister after his blasphemy against Islam.
“About 1,000 activists from Tehreek-e-Labaik, a new hard-liner Islamist political party, have blockaded the main road into the capital for two weeks, accusing the Law Minister of blasphemy against Islam and demanding his dismissal and arrest”, the report stated.
A New York Times report also claimed that Pakistan Calls In Army to Help Restore Order After Violent Clashes in Islamabad.
“The demonstrations began three weeks ago after the release of a proposed new version of an oath to be taken by lawmakers that omitted mention of the Prophet Muhammad. The protesters, many of them supporters of the cleric, Khadim Hussain Rizvi, an outspoken Islamist, have demanded that the law minister resign for the omission, which they called blasphemy”, the reports claimed.
The report is carrying the same image claiming that the police fired rubber bullets to disperse protesters. “The police fired rubber bullets to disperse protesters. Officials took television news off the air to prevent live coverage from inflaming religious sentiments”, the caption of the image reads.
The Financial Express has also shared the same image in a photo feature story of the protest with the same caption.
Link to the report here
To ascertain whether there were any clashes during the Eid Milad procession in Pakistan, we found no reports of any untoward incident during the Milad procession.
Read more: https://newschecker.in/fact-check/viral/images-of-damaged-houses-are-recent: Old Image Of Protest In Pakistan Viral With False ClaimConclusion
Newschecker investigation revealed that the claim that authorities used force on Milad procession is false. The image is actually from the 2017 protest against the law minister.
Result: False
Our Sources
Report by abc.net.au, Dated November 26, 2017
Report by New York Times, Dated November 25, 2017
Report by Financial Express, Dated November 25, 2017
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