Old video from Peshawar shared as recent after Imran Khan’s release
The video does not show PTI supporters gathered in Zaman Park, Lahore
Claim: A video shows Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf supporters welcoming former prime minister Imran Khan on his return to his residence in Zaman Park, Lahore, following his release.
Fact: It’s an old video from Peshawar.
On 12 May 2023, Khan was granted bail by the Islamabad High Court (IHC), and he left the court under police protection to return to his residence in Lahore, according to a report by CNN.
The Pakistan Rangers arrested the PTI chief from the premises of the IHC on 9 May on the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) orders in the Al-Qadir Trust case.
Fact or Fiction?
On 13 May 2023, Twitter user Aurangzaib Khan (@AurangZK) posted a video with the claim that it shows PTI supporters welcoming Imran Khan on his return to Zaman Park, his residence in Lahore, following his release.
“Look at the scenes how Lahore welcomes #imran_Khan on his return to Zaman Park #BehindeYouskipper,” the tweet reads.
Soch Fact Check found through reverse image search tools that the video is not recent. We found a similar photo from 15 August 2017 on Facebook, claiming that it is from Peshawar. “Thank you imran khan for beautifying peshawar and making it one of the most beautiful city of this country,” the image is captioned.
We ascertained that the photo shows Bala Hisar Fort in Peshawar. Taking a cue from this, we searched for videos using the search term “Peshawar Bala Hisar Fort Independence Day celebrations” and found some videos, here and here, from 2022.
The comparison visual below highlights some markers that show similarities in both.
Virality:
The claim can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here on Twitter.
On Facebook, the video was posted on former MPA Makhdoom Zain Hussain Qureshi’s official page and by others, including here, here, here.
It was also shared on Tiktok, here and here.
Conclusion: The viral video does not show PTI supporters welcoming Imran Khan on his return to his Zaman Park residence in Lahore. In fact, it’s an old video from Peshawar.
