Viral video of Shia man being drowned amid ongoing Parachinar violence

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team investigated this content and determined that it is false.

To reach this conclusion, the iVerify Pakistan team conducted a reverse image search to trace the viral video’s original source and timeline.

Posts from several users on different social media platforms since November 22, 2024, circulated a video featuring a man drowning another person, claiming it was of violence against members of the Shia community in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Parachinar. However, the video is old and not from Parachinar.

A convoy of approximately 200 passenger vans in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lower Kurram district was attacked while travelling from Parachinar to Peshawar on November 21. The assault resulted in 42 fatalities and over 30 injuries, according to officials.

The attack seemed to be a retaliation for an incident on October 12, 2024, that claimed 15 lives in the region. The latest violence intensified sectarian tensions in the area, further escalating the conflict.

HOW IT STARTED

On November 22, 2024, an X user posted a video of a man in a shallow stream holding another person underwater, seemingly attempting to drown them.

It was captioned: “Who says they are unknown … The local people of Charkhel and Bagan, from the youngest to the elders, proved through their actions that they are the offspring of Shimr. The Yazidi lineage did not even spare the corpses, and the people standing above are all just watching the spectacle.”

The post was viewed over 180,000 times.

The same video was shared by another X user with the caption: “Our only fault is the love for the Ahl al-Bayt”, racking up over 81,000 views.

Another post featuring the video was captioned: “I was killed for my love of Ali. My fault was being a Shia of Ali.”

The post received 84,000 views.

The video with similar claims was widely shared by other users on X as can be seen here, here, here, here and here, and on Facebook as well.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its high virality and intense public interest in the ongoing tensions that have left many people dead in the Kurram district in tribal clashes.

A reverse image search of the video yielded results of the same clip being shared periodically over the last three years, with claims surrounding the fighting between the Afghan Taliban and the former Afghan army as well as those forces affiliated with it.

A post shared on November 23, 2021 post on X said: “Oppression, tyranny cannot exceed what this savage terrorist group is doing to defenceless people. How can we remain silent in the face of such crimes? #DoNotRecogniseTaliban #NRF #StandWithPanjshir.”

The National Resistance Front is an anti-Taliban armed group waging an insurgency in Afghanistan’s northern Panjshir valley since the fall of the previous government in August 2021.

The same video was shared on November 1, 2022, by Afghan social activist Crystal Bayat with the caption: “Soldiers; The masters and supporters of the palace knew that the soldiers of their government were fighting for the freedom of Afghanistan in the dry mountains of the Hindu Kush and Pamirs, surviving on nothing but dry bread and water. They had never tasted the forty types of food included in the palace menu. They had paid for all the hardships with their lives, and all their hopes were summed up in one word… Freedom.”

Human rights activist Zarifa Ghafari posted the video on September 18, 2023, criticising Nato and the international community for their involvement in Afghanistan over the past 20 years.

Her caption read, “The freedom, life and justice that Nato brought with their presence and 20 years of war against those who are now ruling over Afghanistan by the help of same Nato, and the result of the services of the international community, especially America, can be clearly seen in this video which is now left as a legacy of democracy in my country”.

It could not be conclusively determined when or where the video was from since a keyword search yielded no news reports or stories providing context for the video.

However, the fact that it was shared in the previous three years while being linked to Afghanistan shows that it is not from the current bout of tribal violence in Parachinar or Kurram district.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim that a viral video features a Shia man being drowned as part of ongoing violence in Parachinar is false.

The video was shared in the previous three years as well while being linked to Afghanistan, showing that it is not from the recent tribal violence in Kurram district.

Evidence and References

November 23, 2021, X post:
https://perma.cc/7GTC-MRRF

November 1, 2022, X post:
https://perma.cc/T8QN-2RJ8

September 18, 2023, X post:
https://perma.cc/VUC5-M8YM