Video showing police treatment of Baloch protesters

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team has checked this content and has established that it is misleading since it is an old video which does not show a current instance of the police’s rough treatment of Baloch protesters.

To arrive at this verdict, the iVerify Pakistan team has cross-checked the video with a previous instance.

HOW IT STARTED

On December 20, a video circulated on social media platform X showing a group of protesters at a sit-in being roughly treated and manhandled by the police.

A post by a PTI supporter said: “Balochistan we are ashamed. How innocent children are being dragged, are they terrorists?”

The video had close to 50,000 views and was shared 2,600 times.

Another post by a PTI supporter of the same video gathered over 700,000 views and shared 5,300 times.

It is relevant to mention that around the time the video circulated, a Baloch rights protest had entered Dera Ghazi Khan on December 17, 2023, and was subjected to a police crackdown.

METHODOLOGY

Tracing the video through reverse image search in combination with relevant keywords of “police action” and “Baloch protesters”, the iVerify Pakistan team located it back to June 13, 2022.

At the time, Baloch protesters camped outside the Sindh Assembly were arrested and treated roughly by the Sindh police. Multiple news outlets had covered it such as Dawn and Express Tribune.

Many politicians and personalities had also shared the original video and condemned the incident at the time here, here and here.

BACKGROUND OF BALOCH MARCH

The current protest by the Baloch community began in Turbat on December 6 after the alleged “extra-judicial killing” of a Baloch youth by officials of the Counter-Terrorism Department officials.

The protest converted into a march and reached Islamabad on Dec 20. The demonstrators were subjected to brutal treatment by the Islamabad police to detain and disperse the crowd.

Among the key demands of the protesters are an end to enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in the province.

CONCLUSION

The iVerify team determined that the video circulating on social media is misleading as it is an old video and is not from any current instance of police high-handedness towards Baloch protesters.

Evidence and References

Dawn news story on December 17, 2023, police action:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1798743

Dawn news story on June 2022 incident: https://www.dawn.com/news/1694760

Tribune news story on June 2022 incident: https://tribune.com.pk/story/2361494/unfortunate-unacceptable-police-action-against-peaceful-baloch-protesters-condemned

Journalist condemnation of June 22 incident: https://twitter.com/Xadeejournalist/status/1536390807154208768

Senator condemnation of June 22 incident: https://twitter.com/SenatorMushtaq/status/1536410144296341507

News report on demands of current Baloch protest:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1801371

News report on Islamabad police action against Baloch protesters:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1799802/baloch-protesters-rounded-up-in-brutal-overnight-action