Old video of mob attacking Pakistani politician resurfaces ahead of national elections
- Published on January 12, 2024 at 11:12
- 4 min read
- By AFP Pakistan
Copyright © AFP 2017-2024. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
The 42-second video was posted here on X on December 29, 2023 and has been shared more than 5,300 times.
It shows a mob carrying sticks, chasing and beating Javed Latif, the vice-president of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) party (archived link). Latif eventually escapes on a motorcycle while several gunshots can be heard in the background.
The post's Urdu-language caption translates as: "The beating of PML-N leader Javed Latif. When Javed Latif campaigned in his constituency, the people refused and Javed Latif resorted to bullying, after which the people treated him to sticks, kicks and punches. Javed Latif survived after escaping on a motorcycle."
The post circulated ahead of delayed national elections in Pakistan on Febuary 8, 2024, as the South Asian country -- which has been overseen by a caretaker government -- grappled with overlapping political, economic and security crises.
The vote was set to take place without leading politician and former prime minister Imran Khan, who was barred from contesting polls after being convicted of graft and has been held in custody over leaking state secrets.
Most of the misleading posts were shared by supporters of Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party -- which ruled from 2018 to 2022 -- when Khan was ousted in a vote of no-confidence (archived link).
Latif was an opposition lawmaker during this period.
The same video was shared alongside a similar misleading claim on Facebook here, here and here; and on X here, here and here.
However, the video of Latif's mobbing is old.
2017 attack
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the video found it was posted on YouTube here in November 2017 (archived link here).
The video in the misleading posts corresponds with the YouTube video from the one-minute 10-second mark to the one-minute 50-second mark.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the video shared in the misleading posts (left) and the clip shared on YouTube in 2017 (right):
A report about the attack by 24 News HD published on YouTube on November 25, 2017, shows an image of Latif with his head bandaged (archived link), as shown below:
It is titled "MNA Javed Latif attacked" and states the member of national assembly was attacked as he tried to negotiate with protesters in Sheikhupura, a city in the eastern Punjab province.
Police in Sheikhupura confirmed the video was from 2017, during protests by the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP). "There are no recent reports about any such incident," police told AFP on January 9, 2024.
In November 2017, the TLP was at the forefront of nationwide protests against a proposed change to an oath taken by election candidates that would have altered its reference to the Prophet Mohammed. The government said the change was inadvertent and quickly reversed course but the protesters were not appeased.
Latif was attacked while attempting to negotiate with demonstrators in Sheikhpura, who were protesting a crackdown on a sit-in in Islamabad, according to Pakistani newspapers here and here (archived links here and here).
The PML-N dismissed the misleading posts as "PTI propaganda" in posts on X here and here, emphasising the video was six years old (archived links here and here).
Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.
Contact us
