Claim: A video shows a rally held in Karachi to demand an independent Sindh nation that was met with violence from the police.
Fact: The event was not a separatist protest but a Sindhi Culture Day rally that turned violent over participants refusing police directives.
On 8 December 2025, an Afghan X (formerly Twitter) user @burhan_uddin_0 posted (archive) a video claiming that a rally was held in Karachi to demand an independent Sindhi nation and was met with violence from law enforcement agencies.
The X post is accompanied by the following caption:
“The demand for an independent Azad Sindh has intensified, as Sindhi separatist groups call for separation from Pakistan and the formation of their own government for the Sindhi people. In response, police used force to disperse demonstrators and detained several activists. This growing movement reflects the rising desire among segments of the Sindhi population to gain autonomy, similar to other separatist sentiments seen in various parts of Pakistan.”
The dubious claim was also amplified by Indian users and news outlets as has often happened in the past. Some of these can be viewed here, here, here, and here.
One X user from India, @kamleshdabhhi, wrote, “Karachi erupts for #SindhuDesh. After Balochistan, Pashtunistan & Gilgit-Baltistan, Sindh now challenges Punjabi rule. Pakistan isn’t cracking, it’s fragmenting. Read that again. #Pakistan”
Fact or Fiction?
When Soch Fact Check reverse-searched keyframes from the viral videos, we found them to be from a rally celebrating the Sindhi Culture Day that turned violent.
The Sindhi Culture Day is celebrated on the first Sunday of December every year.
The visuals appear in multiple social media posts from 7 and 8 December 2025 that documented what transpired at the rally and called on people participating in the Sindhi Culture Day to be more responsible while condemning “property damage”.
Similar visuals also appeared in a report on ARY News’ Urdu website, with the headline stating that “over 300” people were “booked for attacking ambulance at Shahrah-e-Faisal [and] firing at police officers”
Soch Fact Check observed that one of the men in the videos, engaging in vandalism, is seen waving a flag of the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM), or Long Live Sindh National Front, which is a nationalist political party that advocates for Sindh’s independence from Pakistan and was founded in 1995. However, it could not be confirmed if he was a member of the same group or how many others associated with it were there.
Dawn reported that the deputy inspector-general of police for the South district said law enforcement agencies had told “the rally participants to use the Lines Area route towards Saddar and subsequently the venue of the rally at Karachi Press Club (KPC), but ‘they were bent upon using the main Sharea Faisal from Jinnah Bridge’”.
When stopped from moving towards the Red Zone, “they allegedly pelted stones at the police”, he said, adding that that’s when police were forced to use tear gas and batons. The cop said “45 people were detained”.
According to the complainant, Inspector Abdul Majeed Abro, law enforcement officers also stopped the rally participants due to the fact that Section 144 — which bans public gatherings — had been in effect at the time, Dawn reported. He explained that protesters also vandalised cars, including an ambulance and a police vehicle, and were chanting “anti-state” slogans, it added.
The Express Tribune quoted the senior superintendent of police for the South district, Mehzor Ali, as saying, “Shahrah-e-Faisal was closed at the FTC [Finance and Trade Centre] point due to security concerns.” Protesters, however, refused to comply with the directives, leading to a confrontation, it added.
The publication said Sindh Interior Minister Ziaul Hasan Lanjhar took notice “of the violence and vandalism” and called “for swift action against those responsible”, directing authorities “to take immediate measures” and arrest those involved.
Other outlets also reported the same.
Additionally, we also came across a misleading article by Raj Express, a newspaper operating in Bhopal, India, about the same event. The report included at least three images, all of which were unrelated to the Sindhi Culture Day.
The first image shows a 17 January 2025 protest by the Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz, or Long Live Sindh United Front, another separatist group, according to a video from the same event posted by its chairperson Shafi Burfat.
We traced the second image to an article by Radio France Internationale, where it was credited to Reuters, which captioned it as, “Supporters of Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan throw stones towards police during a protest against Khan’s arrest, in Peshawar, Pakistan, May 10, 2023. REUTERS/Fayaz Aziz.”
The third image is from 8 December 2025 and shows Gilgit, according to PAMIR TIMES, which wrote, “Multiple roads, including CPO Chowk, were blocked in Gilgit city as protesters demonstrating over a youth who allegedly went missing while travelling on the Karakoram Highway in Diamer/Kohistan.” The same was also posted by Facebook page G B PRESS.
Soch Fact Check, therefore, concludes that the video has been misrepresented and originally shows a Sindhi Culture Day rally in Karachi that turned violent over participants refusing police directives.
Virality
The post by @burhan_uddin_0 has been viewed over 21,000 times so far.
Soch Fact Check found the claim peddled by Indian media outlets such as India Today, The Financial Express, Firstpost, The CSR Journal, and Moneycontrol.
Conclusion: The event was not a separatist protest but a Sindhi Culture Day rally in Karachi that turned violent over participants refusing police directives.
Background image in cover photo: Google Maps
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