Did Imran Khan's Supporters Brandish Gun At PTI Rally? A Fact Check

An image showing a man brandishing a gun while leaning out of a car with a poster of an 'Azadi' march led by former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, is going viral with the claim that it shows Khan's supporters being violent.

BOOM found this claim to be false; our fact-check reveals that the image has been photoshopped, with the gun being digitally altered into the photo. The original photo, taken in 2014, does not contain a gun.

On Saturday, an Islamabad court cancelled Khan's arrest warrant in the Toshakhana corruption case, after he showed up at the court to mark his attendance. During this time Lahore Police stormed Khan's residence, and clashed with supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). According to Al Jazeera, over 60 people were arrested. The image is being shared in this backdrop.

Pakistani journalist Mubasher Lucman shared the photo with the caption, "PTI is a law abiding party."

View an archive of the tweet here.

We searched for the caption on Facebook and Twitter, and found multiple posts containing the same photo and caption.

Fact Check

BOOM performed a reverse image search on Google with the viral photo, which led us to the original photo used as a featured image on an article by South African news portal eNCA (eNews Channel Africa), published on August 15, 2014.

This image did not contain the gun seen in the viral image, leading us to believe that the weapon was digitally added in the viral photos.

The image, which was published without credits, had the caption, "Supporters of Pakistani cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) or Movement for Justice arrive in Islamabad to take part in Azadi (Freedom) march on August 15, 2014."

Looking for the caption on Google, we came across the same photo - without a gun - on editorial photo platform Getty Images. The caption credited the image to Muhammad Reza, for Anadolu Agency and Getty Images.

The entire caption of the image reads, "Supporters of Pakistani cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) or Movement for Justice arrive in Islamabad to take part in Azadi (Freedom) march on August 15, 2014. Thousands of Pakistanis rallied behind Khan toward the capital Islamabad for a protest to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif."