Misleading
Fact-Checked
- 28.11.2025
Viral video of Sohail Afridi in scuffle with Punjab Police outside Adiala jail is old from May 2025
CLAIM
Viral video of KP CM Sohail Afridi in a scuffle with Punjab Police outside Adiala jail
RATING JUSTIFICATION
The iVerify Pakistan team reviewed this content and determined that it is misleading.
To reach this conclusion, iVerify Pakistan conducted a reverse image search and keyword analysis to corroborate the visuals.
Multiple Indian and Afghan accounts shared a video on social media platform X on November 28, 2025, claiming that it showed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister being manhandled during a sit-in outside Adiala jail after being denied a meeting with party founder Imran Khan. However, the video is old from May 2025.
KP CM Sohail Afridi ended an overnight sit-in in the morning of Nov 28 after being denied a meeting with Imran, who is incarcerated at Adiala jail, for an eighth time a day earlier.
Imran’s sisters had staged a sit-in outside Adiala Jail on November 27, 2025, after authorities again blocked their scheduled meeting with the former prime minister. Aleema, Uzma and Noreen Khan arrived at the jail in the morning but were stopped at the outer security cordon, prompting them to sit on the roadside in protest.
HOW IT STARTED
On Nov 27, a pro-Afghan propaganda account shared a video on X of Afridi being manhandled by the police.
The caption of the post said: “Chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Suhail Afridi, was severely beaten by the military regime’s militias. Pashtuns: It’s time to seriously think about their dignity, honour and the future of their next generation. The time has come to stand up against the military regime”.
The post gained 5,000 views.
The same video with a similar claim was reshared by an Indian propagandist account.
The post was captioned: “Breaking: Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Suhail Afridi, was severely beaten by Pakistan forces. This is an insult to all Pashtuns”.
The post gained 102,000 views.
The same video with a similar claim was shared by another Afghan account with the same caption. The post gained 170,000 views.
The video with a similar claim was widely shared by other pro-Indian and pro-Afghan accounts, as can be seen here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here; collectively gaining more than 115,000 views.
Indian media outlets such as The Free Press Journal and Bhaskar English also shared the same video with the same claim.
METHODOLOGY
A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its high virality and keen public interest in the matter.
It was observed that some users were calling out the video as being old in the comment sections.
A reverse image search was conducted to find the original video, yielding a Facebook reel by PTI Khyber Pakhtunkhwa shared on October 15, 2025, titled: “Four months ago, the same middle-class young man, Sohail Afridi, whom the Punjab Police dragged and threw to the ground, has now been lifted and placed on a throne by Imran Khan.”
The video was shared after Afridi was elected as the KP CM on October 13, 2025. According to the video, Afridi was roughed up during a protest outside Adiala jail after PTI leaders, lawyers and family members were denied a meeting with Imran.
A keyword search conducted to find the original source of the video yielded an X post by a PTI supporter on May 6, 2025.
The post was captioned as: “Note the police’s behaviour towards PTI’s Sohail Afridi.” The video shows the moments when Afridi was treated harshly by the police.
The incident was also covered in a report on the same date by local media outlet Minute Mirror titled: “Adiala jail turns into battleground as PTI leaders clash with police over denied visit to Imran Khan”.
Furthermore, it can be seen that CM Afridi is in a brown shalwar kameez with a brown waistcoat as per visuals shared by mainstream media outlets during the current sit-in. In contrast, the viral video shows Afridi in a white shalwar kameez with a black waistcoat.
FACT-CHECK STATUS: MISLEADING
The claim that a viral video shows Sohail Afridi being manhandled by Punjab Police outside Adiala jail is misleading.
The video is old, from May 6, 2025, when Afridi was not the KP chief minister at the time. Omitting the original date of the video has the potential to misguide the public into thinking it is a recent video from the same location and arouse anger in the PTI’s political base.
EVIDENCE AND REFERENCES
Oct 15, 2025, PTI KP Facebook post:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1106115081298307
May 6, 2025, X post:
https://x.com/MehwishQamas/status/1919727681471463706
May 6, 2025, Minute Mirror news article:
Nov 27, 2025, Dawn news report:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1957717
Nov 28, 2025, DawnNews English YouTube video: