Two old photos of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan are being widely circulated on social media misleadingly claiming that the images show his condition after a gunman tried to assassinate him at a rally Pakistan's Punjab province on Thursday.
BOOM found the images to be old and unrelated to the attempt made on his life on November 3, 2022.
According to news reports, Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) supremo Imran Khan got injured after a gunman opened fire during a rally in the Wazirabad district on Thursday. The incident took place when the cricketer-turned-politician was travelling in a convoy. Senator Faisal Javed was wounded as well. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took to his official social media handle to condemn the attack. Khan was said to be receiving treatment. The exact nature of his injuries were not confirmed yet.
British broadcaster Piers Morgan tweeted the picture with a caption, "BREAKING NEWS: Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan shot in assassination attempt. Reports he was hit in the leg but survived & now being treated in hospital."
Click here to view the tweet.
News 24 also posted the viral photo claiming the same.
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On the other hand, NDTV tweeted another image of Imran Khan where he can be seen lying on a bed.
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Fact Check
BOOM found the pictures are old and not from the assassination attempt made on former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan as claimed.
BOOM had earlier debunked the same visual in 2018 when rumours about Khan's death went viral. Read our fact-check here. The photo is from 2013 when Imran Khan fell off a hydraulic lift while campaigning near Ghalib Market in Lahore's Gulberg neighbourhood.
We found a DAWN report published on May 8, 2013 on the incident.
The report said, "Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan Tuesday sustained serious injuries on his head and back after falling from a lifter during climbing up the stage installed for an election rally in Lahore. Khan sustained injuries on his head and back, said the hospital sources."
We also found a video of the incident on Al Jazeera English's official YouTube channel uploaded on May 7, 2013.
Second Photo
We found the second photo on a tweet by Imran Khan from August 17, 2014. Khan captioned the picture as, "Night at the dharna."
Click here to view the tweet.
According to a Economic Times report from 2014, "Khan had launched the protest in Lahore on August 14, 2014 and brought thousands of his supporters to sit-in in front of the parliament in Islamabad to force the government to hold an impartial probe in allegations of fraud in the election which his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI) lost."
He decided to call off his over four-month long protest on December 17, 2014 against the then Pakistan government following a terror attack in Peshawar, the report said.
