Viral video of KP road rage incident is old from 2016 in Peshawar

The iVerify Pakistan team has reviewed this content and determined that it is misleading.

To reach this conclusion, iVerify Pakistan conducted reverse image and keyword searches to investigate the video.

Posts from multiple users and PML-N supporters on various social media platforms since December 16, 2024, shared a video showing several men fighting on a road, with the users claiming that it highlighted the increasing lawlessness in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However, the video is an old one from 2016 in Peshawar.

The KP government has drawn flack from multiple quarters, but particularly the PML-N’s government in the federation and Punjab, over increasing instances of unrest, lawlessness and worsening security in the province.

Meanwhile, the PTI and KP government officials have accused the state, particularly the police, of allegedly profiling and victimising Pakhtuns after the party’s protests in the federal capital in November 2024.

HOW IT STARTED

On Dec 16, a video was shared on X by a user, who was a PML-N supporter according to his X bio, showing several men fighting on a road, with one firing off a gun.

The caption of the post stated, “Father and son got angry after overtaking a government vehicle in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, got out of the vehicle with weapons, beat up the other party, abused them and even opened fire. This anarchic mindset of the province is not only harmful to the entire society, but it will destroy Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with its own hands.”

The post did not provide any other details or context about the alleged incident such as its date and location, but the caption insinuated that it was a recent occurrence.

The post was seen by 332,500 people and reshared 1,000 times.

The same video, with the same caption, was shared by numerous users and PML-N supporters on X, with posts available here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

Additionally, the video was also shared on Facebook with similar captions as can be seen here and here.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim because of its virality and because of public interest in the overall security, law and order situation in KP amid rising incidents of terrorism in the country.

A reverse image search using screenshots from the video yielded a news report published by English media outlet The Express Tribune on June 17, 2016, with the headline: “Kurram Agency’s political muharrar arrested for ‘threatening’ men with arms.”

According to the report, a former political clerk of Kurram Agency was arrested for firing at a man during a verbal dispute near Jan Bakery in Peshawar after their altercation was caught on CCTV footage. It added that the clerk and his armed sons had threatened the other man in a road rage incident for overtaking them.

The incident was also covered Dunya News in a report on the same date with the headline: “Teenager pulls M-16 rifle during road rage incident in Peshawar.

A keyword search using details of the incident yielded a June 18, 2016, YouTube video, with a news segment showing the incident, on a local language media channel’s account titled: “Father, son sent to jail on 14-day remand in Peshawar road rage case.”

FACT-CHECK STATUS: MISLEADING

The claim regarding a video showing several men fighting in an act of road rage somewhere in KP and depicting the lawlessness in the province is misleading.

The video is an old one from Peshawar in June 2016 and omitting this vital context about the original date has the potential to misguide the public and needlessly create a sense of fear or despair about the situation in KP.