Claim: A video shows the aftermath of vandalism at a petrol station during protests after Pakistan’s government suspended its KP counterpart, declared emergency, and imposed governor rule.
Fact: The video predates and is unrelated to the situation in KP. It was taken during protests in Karachi in September 2026.
On 12 October 2026, social media users and accounts shared a video showing a petrol pump, with smoke — likely from a fire — in the atmosphere, vehicles slowing down, and a crane and an ambulance. Captions accompanying the clip claimed it shows the latest situation in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) after the Centre suspended the provincial government, declared an emergency, and imposed governor rule a day prior.
Some of these captions are as follows:
- “خیبر پختون خواہ میں حالات تیزی سے خراب [Situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa deteriorating rapidly]”
- “خیبر پختونخوا میں حالات تیزی سے بگڑ رہے ہیں! خیبر پختونخوا کی آج کی صورتحال پر نظر ڈالیں، جہاں حالات مسلسل خراب ہوتے دکھائی دے رہے ہیں۔ آخر اس بدامنی کا خاتمہ کب ہوگا اور عوام کو امن و سکون کب نصیب ہوگا؟ [The situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is deteriorating rapidly! Look at the current state of affairs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where conditions appear to be worsening by the day. When will this unrest finally come to an end and when will the public find peace and tranquility?]”
- “خیبر پختونخوا کے بگڑتے حالات کا ذمہ دار کون خیبر پختونخوا میں حالات تیزی سے بگڑ رہے ہیں، ذمہ دار کون، سڑکوں پر دھواں، ایمبولینس، عوام خوف میں، یہ کسی بیرونی دشمن نے نہیں کیا، یہ تمہارے اس گورنر راج اور ایمرجنسی کے شوق کا نتیجہ ہے [Who is responsible for the deteriorating situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa? Conditions are worsening fast, who is to blame? Smoke on the streets, ambulances, and a public gripped by fear, this is not the work of some external enemy; rather, it is the direct consequence of your obsession with governor rule and the imposition of an emergency.]”
KP govt suspended, emergency imposed
On 11 October, President Asif Ali Zardari signed a summary to suspend the KP government led by incarcerated former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and impose an emergency in the province, paving the way for governor’s rule.
Zardari’s move followed “decisions by the Federal Cabinet, the Prime Minister [Shehbaz Sharif’s] advice, reports from relevant agencies regarding the law-and-order situation, and the failure of negotiations” with the Centre.
The federal government claimed the decision was made over the KP administration’s “deliberate disengagement from the fight against terrorism”, as well as its failure “to tackle Islamist militancy”, a move that PTI leader Zulfiqar ‘Zulfi’ Bukhari alleged was “more of a coup disguised as emergency”.
The PTI also announced that some of its leaders, including KP’s then-chief minister Sohail Afridi and the party’s provincial president, Junaid Akbar, “had been taken into custody”.
The same day, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) cautioned that an emergency and governor’s rule in KP “risks further deepening political tensions and undermining democratic processes”.
On 12 October, State Interior Minister Tallal Chaudhry said the now-dysfunctional CM and some members of his Cabinet were “taken into preventive custody”, Geo News and Reuters reported.
A day later, Afridi’s brother Muhammad Aamir petitioned the Peshawar High Court (PHC) “seeking his immediate recovery, arguing that his alleged abduction and continued detention violated his fundamental rights and demanding an independent judicial inquiry into his disappearance”, The Express Tribune reported.
Also on 13 October, state-run Pakistan TV quoted Information Minister Attaullah Tarar as saying that there was “credible evidence [establishing] the PTI’s contact with TTP”, or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, a terrorist group also known as the Pakistani Taliban.
The Express Tribune reported him asking, “How could a government, which is mandated to protect the lives of people and to maintain law and order in a province, be hand in glove with terrorists to promote terrorist activities?”
On 14 October, Geo News reported citing information available with the outlet that the now-dysfunctional KP CM was being held “at an undisclosed location” after the door to a locked room he was alone in “was broken open and two officers entered”.
“The officers remained with Afridi for around 30 to 40 minutes and held a conversation with him in a cordial atmosphere. Afridi was reportedly anxious at the time. … He was not handcuffed and no inappropriate treatment was reported during the process,” the publication added.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check first observed that the ambulance visible in the video is operated by the Sindh Integrated Emergency & Health Services (SIEHS), confirming that location is Sindh, not KP.
We also noted that the petrol station visible in the clip is operated by Pakistan State Oil (PSO).
When we reverse-searched keyframes from the viral clip, the results matched scenes from a protest against prolonged power outage in Moach Goth near Karachi’s Baldia Town on 27 September 2026 when residents blocked the Hub River Road.
Similar visuals can be viewed here, here, here, here, and here.
A search for “Moach Goth PSO” on Google Maps led us to a petrol station between Murshid Hospital and SSP Investigation Keamari Office.
Pictures available on Google Maps prove that this is the same location seen in the viral video.
According to reports by The Express Tribune and Daily Jang published on 28 and 29 September 2026, a case was registered at the Saeedabad Police Station — located on the Hub River Road — on the complaint of the petrol pump’s manager, Adil Nawaz Khan, over vandalism.
The reports added that six suspects were named in the first information report (FIR), which also stated that “250 to 300 agitated protesters, some of whom were armed, fled the scene while firing shots”.
Lastly, we also came across K-Electric spokesperson Imran Rana’s X post from 28 September 2026, when he said that power supply had “been restored within two days upon assurance regarding the dues from the area chairman and respected [individuals] notables regarding the dues”, which amounted to “more than PKR 870 million”.
Rana’s X post carries visuals from the Karachi protest site, showing the same PSO petrol station from the video.
All this together led us to conclude that the viral video is unrelated to and predates the situation in KP.
Virality
We found that the video was shared dozens of times on Facebook, seven times on Instagram, 10 times on X, and at least once on TikTok.
Among posts on X and Facebook were Afghan accounts as well, while three users also shared it alongside Arabic-language captions.
Conclusion: The video of a vandalised petrol station predates and is unrelated to protests in KP over governor’s rule. It was taken in September 2026 and shows a protest against prolonged power outages in Karachi.
Background image in cover photo: Adeel Shabir
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