Fact-check: Old protest footage falsely linked to emergency in KP

Social media accounts are sharing a video showing fires burning on a street as police gather nearby, claiming it depicts the situation in Pakistan following the federal government’s imposition of emergency rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on October 11.

The claim is false. The footage predates the declaration by several months and shows a protest in Islamabad following the assassination of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Claim

On October 24, an X account shared a 12-second video showing police gathering on a street as a fire burns nearby.

The caption, translated from Pashto, reads: “Everything is fully under our control. Emergency conditions have been declared across Pakistan. O Lord, turn this situation into a downfall.”

The post has received more than 7,000 views to date.

A similar claim was shared elsewhere on X too and can be seen here.

Fact

The video was recorded in Islamabad on March 1, during protests following the assassination of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei. It is unrelated to the subsequent imposition of emergency rule in KP.

A reverse image search traced the footage to an Instagram post published on March 1, which identified the location as Islamabad.

News reports published by two local daily newspapers on the same day also documented clashes between police and demonstrators in Islamabad as protesters attempted to march towards the Diplomatic Enclave.

Separately, Taqi Jawad, public relations officer for the Islamabad Police, confirmed to Geo Fact-Check that the footage was old and showed a protest following Khamenei’s assassination. He identified the location as a checkpoint opposite the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad.

The federal government imposed emergency rule in KP on October 11, months after the footage was recorded.

Verdict: The video shows a protest in Islamabad on March 1 following Khamenei’s killing, not unrest following the imposition of emergency rule in KP.

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