Video of woman pleading with BNP protesters to make way for her sick child

Rating Justification

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

To reach this conclusion, iVerify Pakistan conducted a reverse image search to verify the video.

Posts from multiple users on social media platforms X and Facebook circulated a video since April 7, 2025, claiming it shows a mother pleading with protesters of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) to open the road so she could take her sick child to the doctor. However, the video was shared as far back as July 2023 and had nothing to do with the current BNP protest.

The BNP-M kicked off a “long march” on March 28 to protest the arrests of Baloch Yakjehti Committee leaders and activists as well as a crackdown on their sit-in in Quetta.

On April 7, BNP-M senior vice president Sajid Tareen alleged that security forces had arrested around 70 party workers and jailed 13 of them under the Maintenance of Public Order law during a crackdown in Quetta. He also claimed that four workers were injured in Wadh. The authorities have warned the protesters against entering Quetta.

HOW IT STARTED

On April 7, an X user shared a video claiming to show a mother pleading with BNP supporters to open the road so she could take her sick son to the doctor.

The caption read: “A mother is asking BNP workers for a way to take her sick child to the hospital, but despite her desperate plea, look at the utter indifference of the workers as they refuse to give her the way.”

The post was viewed over 104,200 times and reshared more than 1,000 times.

The same claim with the video or visuals from it were posted by pro-PML-N and pro-state accounts here, here and here.

The video was also shared on Facebook here and here.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality and keen interest in the BNP protest amid the tense situation in the province.

A reverse image search yielded a post as far back as July 3, 2023, when the video was posted by journalist and Quetta Voice editor Syed Ali Shah, hence showing that it was unrelated to the current BNP protest.

The caption of that post read: “The video of this broken mother requesting BNP supporters to open the road. She is taking her son to the doctor. Can anyone verify where and why this happened? Any action taken against those stopping her?”

A keyword search to determine more details about the incident yielded an X post on July 3, 2023, by a Baloch Students Organisation official of a 75-second clip.

The post’s caption said: “BNP district organiser Abdul Jamil Gachki clarified that a video circulating on social media in which a woman was thanking workers for giving way was misinterpreted.”

Gachki could be seen with the men featured in the video with the woman.

The transcript of what the BNP official said in the video is as follows: “A video of a woman has been circulated in which the perception was given that women were stopped and mistreated. These people were standing there. The woman’s car was stuck for a long while so she came out and everyone gave her space and got her car free. She came out and was thanking our workers. A media channel misframed it and we reject it. We allowed many vehicles to pass. Our purpose was peaceful protest and we followed it. We strongly reject this news that was run.”

According to a July 4, 2023, Dawn report titled: “BNP-M strike paralyses life in Balochistan,” the BNP-M had organised a wheel-jam strike across Balochistan on July 3, 2023, to protest the deteriorating law and order situation in the Wadh area of Khuzdar district. The strike had effectively cut off Balochistan from the rest of Pakistan, as BNP-M workers and leaders blocked major highways, including the Quetta-Karachi and Quetta-Taftan routes, using barricades and boulders.

Contacted via Dawn correspondent Abdullah Zehri for further elaboration in the wake of the video’s recent spread, Gachki said a call for protest was given across Balochistan against the attack and siege on the house of party chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal in Wadh in 2023.

He said the party’s supporters had subsequently blocked the Quetta-Karachi National Highway.

Gachki said he was working as the party’s senior vice president in Lasbela district when the incident occurred.

“A patient was being taken to Karachi in an ambulance from Lasbela. The ambulance was let go by the party workers. However, there was another vehicle with the ambulance. They got angry with the party workers. We let the patient go with the family. They offered their kindness by folding their hands in accordance with Sindhi cultural customs or traditions. Meanwhile, our opponents tried to harm the party by broadcasting this video clip in a different way. Actually, this incident was not like that, but this woman had thanked us,” he said.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim that a viral video shows a distressed woman pleading with BNP supporters to clear the road for her sick child amid the party’s current protest is false.

The video dates back to July 2023 and has nothing to do with the current BNP protests.

Evidence and References

July 3, 2023, X post of Quetta Voice editor:
https://perma.cc/5B92-EYUK

July 3, 2023, X post of Baloch Students Organisation official:
https://perma.cc/D74R-VR4Q