MQM-P/PPP clash video shared online as army vehicles burnt by militants in Balochistan’s Mach

The iVerify Pakistan team has checked this content and has established that it is false since the footage is from Karachi.

To arrive to this verdict, the IVerify Pakistan team has sourced back to the original video of the incident through a reverse image search.

HOW IT STARTED

On January 30, 2024, Indian user Baba Banaras posted a six-second long clip on social media platform X, showing two vehicles set on fire and a soldier.

With the headline “Operation Dara-e-Bolan”, the post’s caption said: “Burning vehicles of the Pakistan Army can be seen in Mach [and] Bolan. According to the local sources, throughout the city, the sounds of explosions, gunfire, and cries towards the forces’ camps and posts can be heard”.

The post received over 24,000 views.

The same clip was shared by another Indian account with the caption: “Documents of fierce battle between BLA and Pakistani army in Pakistan’s Bolan”.

In another post, an Indian account shared a longer version of the clip which gained over 3,900 views. This clip showed a police vehicle as well.

The X user wrote, “The Baloch people are facing hardships due to ongoing injustices in Pakistan. May God ensure justice for the people of Balochistan and may they attain their own new nation.”

Pakistani users also shared the same footage in posts on X.

According to Baloch journalist Mahnoor Haider, “Local sources claim that multiple Pakistani forces have been killed and wounded in the ongoing major attack in Mach (Bolan). Balochistan.”

The post was viewed over 48,000 times.

The clip was shared here, here and at other places by Pakistani users.

The clip was also shared by users advocating for Baloch rights and separatism here and here.

Among the imagery and visuals being shared allegedly from Mach, some users also shared a picture of a building on fire.

An Afghanistan-based X user shared the image of the building and a vehicle beside it on fire.

The caption said, “Local sources confirmed that the city of Mach (Bolan) is fully under the control of BLA fighters and the entrances to the city have been closed and firing continues at several government facilities”.

The post was viewed over 66,000 times.

The image was also shared by the Baba Banaras account with the caption: “A massive attack on Pakistani occupational forces, the first of its kind in Balochistan, has seen railway stations, police stations, and military outposts occupied by Baloch Fighters within hours”.

The post gained 26,000 views.

METHODOLOGY

The iVerify Pakistan team sought to determine the veracity of the claim since it came right amid a terrorist attack in Mach, near Balochistan’s capital of Quetta, on the night of Jan 29 and the team observed that a number of users responded to the circulated visuals as being widely fake.

With elections less than nine days away on February 8, the public is keenly interested and concerned by the security situation in the country leading up to the polls.

The iVerify Pakistan team did a reverse image search of the different key frames from the shared six-second long clip and found a video on YouTube with the title “MQM walo ne PPP walo ki gari jaladi” (Those belonging to MQM set fire to car of those belonging to PPP) published on Jan 29.

The 11-second video showed the same two vehicles that were set on fire and the same visuals as in the shared video.

The iVerify Pakistan team next conducted keyword research using “MQM”, “PPP” and “clash” and found several news reports that shared either the clip or the screenshots from an incident.

According to a Jan 29 Dawn.com report, a worker of the MQM-Pakistan was killed while a PPP worker was wounded in a clash between the two parties during an election campaign in Karachi’s Nazimabad on the night of Jan 28.

Gulbahar Police Station House Officer Shabbir Hussain said the incident took place outside the MQM-P office in the area when a PPP rally was passing through. He added that subsequently, a physical altercation occurred which led to the death of an MQM-P worker.

“A mob surrounded the area following the shooting and vandalised two Toyota Vigos belonging to PPP workers before setting them on fire,” he was quoted as saying by the leading English news outlet.

The same was corroborated by a Jan 29 news report by The Express Tribune.

“Unidentified individuals set fire to two vehicles, forcing the owners to abandon them and flee. Subsequently, Rangers arrived in large numbers, bringing an end to the firing.

“A fire brigade vehicle arrived and extinguished the fire that had engulfed the vehicles. The owners of the burning vehicles reached their cars sitting in the Ranger’s mobile, but by then, both vehicles had been completely destroyed,” the report said.

The footage of the two burning vehicles was also shared on social media by users on that night, including Public News Bureau Chief Samar Abbas.

The caption of his post said: “Clash between MQM and PPP workers near Karachi Nazimabad Inquiry Office. One person Faraz, son of Ghafoor, was killed and two injured and two vehicles were set on fire by angry people”.

The video of the burning vehicles was also shared here and here by Dunya News correspondent Bilal Naseer.

Similarly, the iVerify Pakistan team observed that the shared image of the burning building was also denounced as being fake by users.

Conducting a reverse image search for the picture showed results from April 2021.

An article published on April 22, 2021, by Chinese state-run People’s Daily Online was titled: “4 killed, over dozen injured in SW Pakistan’s hotel bomb blast”.

As per the article, four people were killed and over a dozen others injured when an explosive-laden vehicle exploded inside the parking of Quetta’s Serena Hotel.

The image was also available on stock photography agency Alamy. The caption for the image with the date and location said: “Quetta, Pakistan. 21st Apr, 2021. Fire breaks out at the blast site in Quetta, Pakistan’s southwest Balochistan province, on April 21, 2021.”

A Dawn.com report from the same date also confirmed the same.

TERROR ATTACK IN BALOCHISTAN’S MACH TOWN

As per a Jan 30 Dawn report, security forces thwarted three coordinated attacks launched by terrorists using rockets and sophisticated weapons in Mach town on the night of Jan 29.

The report said that while Balochistan’s caretaker minister attributed the attack to terrorists affiliated with the Aslam Acho group, responsibility was later claimed by the Majeed Brigade of the proscribed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).

CONCLUSION

The iVerify Pakistan team has determined that the claim — about both the burning vehicles and building on fire as being current imagery from the tense situation in Mach — is false.

Both visuals are from separate unconnected incidents which have nothing to do with the security situation and operation in Mach on the night of Jan 29/30.