Claim: Chief Minister of Punjab Maryam Nawaz’s convoy was attacked.
Fact: The claim is misleading. The viral video likely dates back to 2020 when clashes broke out between PML-N workers and the police outside the NAB office.
A video has been shared online with the following caption: “وزیر اعلیٰ پنجاب مریم نواز کی گاڑی پر حملہ”
[Translation: Attack on Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s car]
The video shows stones being pelted at two SUVs. amid plumes of smoke and a large crowd present at the scene.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse-searched keyframes from the viral video to trace its source but was unable to locate the exact footage. We then conducted a keyword search using terms such as “Maryam Nawaz,” “convoy,” and “attacked.” It led us to reports dating back to August 2020, when PML-N workers were involved in clashes outside the NAB office.
According to Geo News, violent clashes broke out on 11 August 2020 between PML-N supporters and the police outside the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) office in Lahore, where Maryam Nawaz had been summoned over an alleged illegal transfer of government land.
Nawaz called the incident “state-sponsored terrorism,” accusing the government of being “afraid of losing power,” while NAB said it had never witnessed such “hooliganism” or vandalism in its 20-year history. What was meant to be a routine appearance before the anti-graft body turned into a prolonged confrontation, “with the party as well as government officials engaged in an effort to seize the narrative,” the report added.
Maryam Nawaz also shared footage from the incident on X. One post included a video likely showing the same vehicles at a similar location as the video in the claim: a black SUV and another double-cabin black SUV. She shared the clip, writing: “The ambushed black SUV is mine and clearly I am the target. They kept attacking viciously even after the car turned back and ran after it until it was out of range. Unprovoked assault.”
Although filmed from a different angle, this footage partly matches the viral video, showing similar details such as the black SUV reversing.
A search for footage shared on X from that day led us to a post by PML-N member Dr Tariq Fazal, who shared a video, writing: “Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz have always faced the courts and cases. She appeared today as well before NAB. But the attitude of the police is highly condemnable. These tactics can’t stop PML-N from moving forward.”
The events shown in this video, also recorded from another angle, closely resemble the events in the viral clip. A PML-N flag is visible, a man in a red t-shirt appears in both videos, and the double-cabin SUVs can be seen reversing similarly. This footage is the most similar to the video being fact-checked.
Soch Fact Check also reviewed footage of the incident shared by GNN News and Lahore News and found similarities with the viral video. For instance, a man wearing a red shirt is once again visible in the footage shared by both outlets.
Similarly, both show a close-up of the same location seen in the viral video, but the viral video appears to be filmed from a distance.
While Soch Fact Check could not trace viral video back to an exact source, the resemblance between the 11 August 2020 footage shared online and the viral clip strongly suggest that both depict the same event.
Additionally, the absence of credible news reports about any recent attack on Maryam Nawaz’s convoy confirms that the viral claim is misleading.
Virality
The claim was shared here, here, here, here, here, and here on Facebook. Archived here, here, here, here, here, and here.
On Instagram, it was shared here (archive) and here (archive).
Conclusion: The viral claim that Maryam Nawaz’s convoy was attacked is misleading. The video being shared likely shows events from August 2020.
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Background image in cover photo: The Express Tribune
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