What is the truth behind the viral video of Rangers pushing a worker with a container at D-Chowk?

Rohan Ahmed

Ahadah, BBC Urdu, Islamabad

A video is going viral on social media in Pakistan in which security personnel are pushing down a person on containers at D-Chowk during a protest demonstration by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

In the video, it can be seen that a person is praying on the roof of containers placed to block the road at D-Chowk in Islamabad when four Rangers personnel holding shields and sticks come towards him.

In such a situation, a Rangers personnel pushes the person and as a result, the person first hangs on the corner of the container to save himself and falls down after a few seconds.

This video is circulating not only on social media but also in WhatsApp groups. BBC has been able to confirm the incident of the person falling with the help of videos, photos and the statement of an eyewitness present there on social media.

When and how did the incident take place?

There are two images on Getty, an international image provider, which were taken on November 26, and in these images, a man can be seen praying on a container and Rangers officers can be seen standing near him on the container.

While in another image on Getty, the man can be seen hanging from the container and apparently the Rangers officer is trying to push him down from the containers.

The BBC compared the images on Getty and the video that went viral on social media and found that Rangers personnel pushed a man down from a container during a PTI protest at D Chowk.

What do eyewitnesses say?

The BBC spoke to a photographer from a foreign news agency who was present at D Chowk on November 26 when the incident occurred.

The photographer, who also witnessed the incident on condition of anonymity, told BBC Urdu that “the man was climbing on top of the containers. At first he was offering prayers and then he started praying.”

According to him, three or four Rangers arrived at that time and tried to arrest the man.

The photographer said, “When they could not get hold of him, the Rangers pushed him a little and then he fell down.”

When the photographer was asked if the man in the video had sat up after falling from the container, what was his condition after the fall? To which he said that he was in a building in the area at that time from where he could not see him after the fall.

What is the position of the Pakistani government and PTI?

After this incident, claims were made on social media by PTI supporters that the man fell from the container and died due to the Rangers’ pushing, however, the BBC could not independently verify the identity of the man or his alleged death in this incident.

When the BBC spoke to PTI leader Zulfi Bukhari about the video, he said, “Many of our workers are still missing, about nine people have been killed by direct bullets.”

He claimed that there were 40 bodies in government hospitals in Islamabad.

However, the BBC could not independently verify this claim either.

It should be noted that the Rangers are a paramilitary force that works under the Ministry of Interior.

During a media interaction on Wednesday, a journalist asked Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, “A video is going viral in which a worker was pushed and thrown down by Rangers while praying on top of a container at D-Chowk.” Do you also condemn this act or not?’

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, while avoiding a direct answer to this question, described it as a gimmick and said, ‘First of all, since they (PTI protesters) fled, propaganda started immediately that 33 bodies are in one hospital and who knows how many bodies are in another hospital.’

He added, ‘Their people have been going around hospitals since morning to find the bodies, or come tomorrow and check.’

It should be noted that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur has claimed on behalf of the PTI that hundreds of workers have been killed in the operation of law enforcement agencies in Islamabad.

BBC Urdu has not been able to independently verify his claim.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi says that no one has given him the name or other details of the person who died yet.

However, yesterday, two government hospitals in Islamabad, Polyclinic and PIMS, confirmed to the BBC that six bodies had been brought there. It was also learned that the bodies brought to the polyclinic had bullet marks on them.

On the other hand, five law enforcement officials deployed in the wake of the PTI protests have also been killed.

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#Pakistan_Tehreek_e_Insaf #Pakistan #Islamabad #Courts