Fact-check: Contrary to claims, no Afghan national has been arrested by police outside Imran Khan’s house

On March 14 and 15, after the police clashed with supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Lahore, near the residence of PTI’s chairman Imran Khan, multiple social media accounts alleged that the majority of the men arrested by the cops were Afghan nationals, who had been brought to guard Khan’s home.

This claim is false.

Claim

On March 15, a Twitter user tweeted that two-thirds of those arrested for attacks on police near Zaman Park were Afghan citizens.

“What is the relationship of Afghan citizens with PTI?” the user asked, “When the investigations are completed, shocking details will come out.”

The tweet had been viewed about 31,000 times and liked 1,367 times, at the time of writing.

On the same day, a similar claim was shared by a verified Twitter account.

While one Twitter user claimed that out of the 30 PTI supporters arrested from Zaman Park, only six are Punjabi and 24 are Afghani nationals.

This tweet has been viewed more than 8,000 times.

Fact

None of the 98 people arrested from outside Imran Khan’s residence in connection to the March 14 and 15 clashes are citizens of Afghanistan, confirm investigation officials.

As per the documents provided to Geo Fact Check by Lahore police officials, probing the incident, a total of 98 people have been cuffed, as of March 22.

Of the 98 arrested, 61 are residents of Punjab, 31 of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, four of Balochistan, and one each from Sindh and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

These men have been accused of arson attacks and damage to government property.

“We have no verification as such that the arrested [men] are Afghan nationals,” a senior police official also told Geo Fact Check, on the condition of anonymity. “However, two of the men arrested [out of 98] have possible connections with black-listed terrorists.”

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