Claim: A video shows PPP leader Khursheed Shah being hit with shoes during a campaign trail in his constituency ahead of the 2024 general elections.
Fact: Shah was not hit with shoes during a recent campaign trail; the video is actually over five years old and, therefore, not breaking news.
On January 2024, X (formerly Twitter) user @m_m_a_y_7 posted (archive) a video with the following caption:
“بریکینگ نیوز 🚨🚨🚨🚨
[Breaking News 🚨🚨🚨🚨]
پیپلز پارٹی رہنما خورشید شاہ کی چھترول
[[Pakistan] People’s Party leader Khursheed Shah beat up with shoes]
اطلاعات کے مطابق خورشید شاہ اپنے حلقے میں ووٹ مانگنے نکلے عوام نے گاڑی روک کر جوتے دکھائے، تلخ سوالات کیئے خورشید شاہ پولیس سے اٹھوانے کی دھمکیاں دیکھنے لگے گارڈز نے عوام سے بدتمیزی بھی کی
[According to reports, Khursheed Shah went out to seek votes in his constituency, people stopped his car, showed him their shoes, and asked him hard-hitting questions; Khursheed Shah made threats of getting people ‘picked up’ by police; [his] guards also abused the public]
#فروری8_عوامی_ریفرنڈم
[#8FebruaryPublicReferendum]”
Ahead of the 2024 general elections in Pakistan, slated for 8 February, Soch Fact Check has observed an influx of false and misleading claims that may impact public opinion and voter behaviour.
Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah, a Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader, is contesting elections from the Sukkur-II (NA-201) constituency.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse-searched keyframes from the viral video and found it to be old.
We found that the video was posted on Dailymotion as early as 12 July 2019 (archive) with the title, “Sukkur Ki Awam Ne Khurshid Shah Ko Jootay Dikha Diye [The people of Sukkur threatened Khursheed Shah with their shoes]”.
Taking cues from this, we searched Sindhi-language newspapers and media outlets for any relevant information and found a report (archived and translated) from 13 July 2019 on Sindh Samaachar. The article states that five people of a family drowned in the night between 11 and 12 July when a bike fell into the Masu Vah canal in Mirpur Mathelo, a city in Sindh’s Ghotki district. However, locals started protesting over the administration’s alleged non-compliance with their request for rescue.
At the same time, a convoy of PPP leadership — comprising Shah, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, and Sardar Muhammad Bux Khan Mahar — was passing through on their way to campaign for the Ghotki NA-205 by-elections (archive). Protesters stopped Shah’s vehicle, according to Sindh Samaachar, and “kept showing him shoes, slippers, and sandals”, before the politician decided it was better to leave.
To further authenticate what transpired, we searched the phrase “Mirpur Mathelo family drowned Bilawal Khursheed Shah protest 2019” on Google and found news reports from Sindh Express (archive), 92 News HD (archive), and Dunya News (archive), which wrote that protesters alleged that the local administration was negligent and “busy in protocol duty during Bilawal Bhutto’s visit of the area”.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found that video posted on X by @m_m_a_y_7 has gained over 13,900 views, as of writing time. We also came across another viral post, which has been viewed more than 67,800 times.
The clip also spread to other platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok, where it has garnered upwards of 14,000 views, as of writing time.
This is not the first time the video has made the rounds on the Internet in a false context. It also surfaced back in May 2022 — just a month after former prime minister Imran Khan was ousted (archive) from power through a no-confidence vote. Interestingly, at that time, it was shared by multiple accounts leaning towards Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Conclusion: Shah was not recently hit with shoes; the video is actually over five years old and, therefore, not breaking news.
Background image in cover photo: Bilawalhouse
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