Fact-check: Viral mosque fight falsely linked to PTI, actually took place in India
The Pune Times Mirror reported that a dispute broke out during the distribution of “laddoos” (sweets) at a mosque in Uttar Pradesh
Updated Friday May 08 2026
A video circulating on social media shows several people assaulting a man inside a mosque. Multiple posts claim that one of the attackers is an office-bearer of the opposition political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), who allegedly attacked a prayer leader in Lahore for not praying for jailed former prime minister Imran Khan.
This claim is baseless. The video is not from Pakistan.
Claim
On May 2, an account on X (formerly Twitter) shared a short clip of a fight inside a mosque. The caption claimed: “These people are now even fighting inside mosques and physically assaulting the imam because of Imran Khan, this is the kind of ‘awareness’ Imran Khan has instilled in the youth.”
The text overlaid on the 27-second video further alleges that a local PTI office-bearer assaulted an imam at a mosque in Lahore for refusing to offer prayers for Imran Khan’s release.
At the time of writing, the post had received 51,000 views, 1,200 likes, and 640 reposts.
Identical claims have also been shared on Instagram, Facebook and Threads.
Fact
In reality, the video was recorded in India, not Pakistan, and shows a violent altercation during the distribution of sweets inside a mosque.
Geo Fact Check conducted a reverse image search of key frames from the video and traced its earliest upload to February 24. The post identified the incident as taking place in Uttar Pradesh, India.
This was further confirmed by the Indian publication The Pune Times Mirror, which reported that the dispute broke out during the distribution of “laddoos” (sweets) after the completion of the Quran. The situation escalated into a physical fight between two groups.
The incident was also reported by Zee News on February 25, describing the same sequence of events. The report can be viewed here.
Verdict: The viral video is from India and misrepresented as an incident from Pakistan involving PTI.
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