Claim: A video circulating on social media purportedly shows residents in Balochistan pelting a Pakistan Army armoured vehicle with stones, allegedly reflecting public anger against the Pakistan Army.
Fact Check: FALSE
Reality: The viral footage has no connection to Pakistan or Balochistan. It dates back to 2020 and depicts local residents in Afghanistan throwing stones and other objects at an American military vehicle.
Verification and Findings
A video showing an armoured military vehicle moving through a crowded area while people throw stones and other objects at it has been circulating on social media alongside misleading claims that it depicts public hostility towards the Pakistan Army in Balochistan.
However, the claim has been exposed as false through reverse image verification.
According to Geo News, a reverse image search of keyframes from the viral footage traced the video back to 2020, establishing that the incident took place in Afghanistan and involved an American military vehicle, not the Pakistan Army.
Further verification provides additional evidence of the footage’s actual origin:
- December 8, 2020: Iranian news website Khabar Online published the footage, identifying it as an incident involving Afghan residents throwing stones at an American military vehicle.
- December 9, 2020: Russian news website TopWar also reported the same footage as showing local residents in Afghanistan pelting an American military vehicle with stones.
These independently traceable historical publications establish that the footage predates its current circulation and has been falsely presented as a recent incident in Balochistan.
Conclusion
The viral claim is FALSE and MISLEADING. The footage is from Afghanistan in 2020 and shows stone-pelting on an American military vehicle. It does not depict an incident in Balochistan, nor does it show public anger against the Pakistan Army.
The circulation of this outdated footage with a fabricated Pakistani context misrepresents the original incident and creates a misleading impression among social media users.
