Claim: A video shows PTI protesters clashing with the police in Islamabad in February 2026.
Fact: The clip is old and surfaced online as early as October 2024.
On 14 February, an X user posted a video (archive) of protesters clashing with the police in Islamabad. When translated from Urdu into English, the caption states:
“No talks, no negotiations
The demand is for the release [of Imran Khan]
Protests will continue until the Captain is released
Islamabad”.
Multiple users on social media platforms shared the same video with similar claims, linking it to recent PTI protests.
The claim circulated as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf staged countrywide protests on 13 February. Protests erupted after Imran Khan’s lawyers told the Supreme Court that the incarcerated PTI founder had lost 85% vision in his right eye.
BBC reported: “His lawyer Salman Safdar, who was permitted to visit his client in prison this week, said the former cricketer began experiencing blurred and hazy vision three to four months ago,” and the report added, citing Safdar, that, “But, despite telling the jail superintendent, no action was taken beyond giving him eye drops…”
Opposition alliance Tehreek-i-Tahafuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP), which includes the PTI, staged a sit-in outside the Parliament House in Islamabad on 13 February and demanded that Khan be shifted to a private hospital for treatment.
A medical board appointed by Pakistani authorities that examined Khan claimed that his vision had improved. However, his sister, who spoke to Al Jazeera, said the family had rejected the board’s claim.
Khan has been incarcerated since August 2023 on various charges, but he has denied any wrongdoing.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse-searched keyframes and found that the video is old. Social media users shared it online as early as October 2024, linking it to protests taking place at that time to demand the release of Imran Khan.
Journalist Sabir Shakir of ARY News posted the same video (archive) on 6 October 2024 with the following caption [translated from Urdu into English]: “Is this Bangladesh or the Turkish model?”
The scenes from this clip and the one being fact-checked match, as shown below, indicating the footage is old:
On the left is the clip circulating online in February 2026, which is the same as the one on the right, shared in October 2024.
A Facebook user posted this same footage (archive) on 9 October 2024.
The clip was also shared on Instagram (archive) on 6 October 2024 with the following description:
“Dozens of Pakistan police injured in clashes with supporters of former PM Khan
Over 80 police personnel have been injured in clashes with supporters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan taking part in a march near Islamabad, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Saturday.”
In early October 2024, police clashed with protestors supporting Imran Khan in Islamabad who were protesting for his release.
Another Instagram user also posted the footage here (archive) on 6 October 2024.
Soch Fact Check found that the same clip was also posted on Reddit (archive) on 6 October 2024 with the following caption: “This one is for the history books”. This confirms that the video is old and unrelated to the February 2026 protests.
Virality
The clip was posted on X here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
On Instagram, the claim was shared here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
The video appeared on Facebook here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Conclusion: The video is old. It appeared online as early as October 2024 and is unrelated to the recent nationwide PTI protests over Khan’s health.
Background image in cover photo: Dawn
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