The false reports emerged as thousands of Khan’s supporters collected in the Sangjani area of Islamabad in support of Khan, despite attempts by authorities to block major roads leading to the capital (archived link).
The demonstration, led by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, was the largest in the capital since the retired international cricketer was jailed in 2023 on several charges, some of which are still before the courts.
Khan continues to maintain that the charges against him were aimed at preventing him from returning to office.
The same video with a similar false claim was viewed hundreds of thousands of times here And here on X; and here And here on Facebook.
However, the clip dates from several weeks before the PTI meeting.
Independence Day Celebrations
A reverse image search of the video’s key frames revealed that the same footage appeared on Facebook on August 14, 2024, when Pakistan celebrated the 77th anniversary of its independence (archived link).
It was published with the caption: “People celebrating Independence Day were stuck in traffic for hours due to mismanagement. In other countries, authorities plan large crowds in advance. Happy Independence Day.”
The video also featured the watermark of local videographer Jamil Khan Akhunzada, who told AFP he filmed the video on August 14 in Chattar Top, a mountainous area about 104 kilometres (64 miles) from Sangjani.
Below is a screenshot of the comparison between the fake post (left) and its original Facebook reel (right):
Several buildings in the video can also be seen on satellite images of the area on Google Maps as shown in the screenshot comparison below (archived link):
Akhunzada posted the same video on his TikTok account on August 15 (archived link).
AFP has previously debunked false claims about PTI meeting in September 2024 here And here.
