False: These images show former Pakistan PM Imran Khan injured after a gunman attacked his convoy at a protest march.

By: Rahul Adhikari
November 4 2022

Share Article:

Context

Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan was wounded in the leg when a gunman opened fire at his convoy during a protest march in the eastern Punjab province. According to media reports, the cricketer-turned-politician was taken to a hospital in Lahore immediately after the attack which left one person dead and several injured. Khan’s aides and senior leaders from his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) told mediapersons that pellets were lodged in the politician’s leg but he was stable. After the incident, a few social media accounts started sharing two images claiming them to be photos of Khan after the attack which has been described as an assassination attempt by his supporters. One of such posts shows a slightly blurred image of Imran Khan being held by a few people. Khan appears to have sustained some injuries on his face in the image. The description of the accompanying post, shared by journalist Tarun Sharma, read, "Image of Imran Khan after he got shot. 9 people injured, one dead in the attack." Another post, shared on the Zee Delhi-NCR Haryana Twitter handle, shows an image of the former Pakistan PM lying on a bed. The tweet read, "Picture of former Pakistan PM Imran Khan after he got shot."

 In fact

On conducting a reverse image search, we found that the first image is actually from 2013. The image was maliciously used on social media to claim that Imran Khan was dead, reported The Times of India article dated June 28, 2018. However, the image is from a 2013 incident when Khan fell off a forklift during a rally in Lahore. Al Jazeera had also reported the incident and published a video on their YouTube channel on May 7, 2013. The photo in the viral tweet can be seen in the news report around the 1:30-minute timeframe.

 The second viral image was found on Imran Khan's Twitter handle itself. The former PM had shared this image on August 17, 2014. The caption suggests that this is a visual from a protest as he wrote, "Night at the dharna." Imran's tweet was also cited by The Hindu in an article published on August 17, 2014. The image was taken during PTI's Azadi March, demanding the resignation of then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. 

 The above evidence proves that both the viral images are old and have no connection with the recent attack on Imran Khan. Hours after the attack, the Pakistan government released a video of a man confessing to carrying out the attack on Khan. The unnamed man was arrested with a 9mm pistol and two empty magazines, the police said.

 The verdict

Two old images have been wrongly shared as visuals from the recent attack on Imran Khan. Hence, we have marked this claim as false.