After an army officer drew his gun on students during a protest at a university in Islamabad, an old video was shared in posts falsely claiming the military had publicly assured the public the officer would be held accountable. While security officials placed the officer in custody and handed him over to the army, the Pakistan military's information wing has not yet commented on the incident. The footage used in the false posts was taken in September 2024, and refers to the court martial of the country's former spy chief.
"Shooting incident at Sarhad University; inquiry and disciplinary action initiated against the involved military officer," says part of an Urdu-language Facebook post shared on August 25, 2026.
"The military officer involved in the shooting has been taken into custody under the army's code of conduct and an inquiry and disciplinary proceedings have been initiated. The Pakistan army believes in the process of self-accountability."
The post is referring to a confrontation between students at Islamabad's Sarhad University of Science and Information Technology and a man in military uniform during a protest on August 24, in which the man was filmed trading blows with the students before drawing a gun and firing into the air (archived here and here).
In a separate clip attached to the Facebook post, an army officer is shown delivering remarks from a podium.
He says the Pakistan army "believes in the process of self-accountability" and that their system is a comprehensive, transparent, robust and time-tested.
"It is important to note that whenever there is a violation of the laws and regulations established within the army, this strong system of self-accountability swiftly comes into action without discrimination," he says.
The same clip was also shared in similar Facebook and X posts.
"They got scared Gen Z might come after them, so they held a press conference to cover themselves. Everything makes sense," reads a comment on one of the posts. Another says: "When you consider yourself above the law, then you have to hold press conferences like this."
According to news reports, the man who fired the gun was taken into protective custody by security agencies and handed over to the army ( archived link).
Islamabad police later identified the man as a lieutenant colonel and said he could face a summary court martial, while military sources said army leadership had taken " strict notice" of the incident.
But as of September 2, no official statements have been issued by the military.
The circulating clip in fact shows the head of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistan military's information wing, speaking about a separate case in September 2024.
A reverse image search using keyframes from the falsely shared clip led to a longer version of the same footage which was posted on the ISPR's official YouTube channel on September 5, 2024 ( archived link).
The snippet used in the false posts corresponds to the 6:46 mark of the ISPR video.
Its description says it shows the "DG ISPR press conference". Ahmed Sharif Chaudhary is the director general of the ISPR.
The press conference was also broadcast by Pakistani news outlet Dawn News ( archived link).
The military spokesperson was speaking about former spy chief General Faiz Hameed's court martial as an example of military's self-accountability. Following the segment appearing in the falsely shared snippet, Chaudhary said the Pakistan army's inquiry found Hameed had violated several provisions of the Army Act.
In December 2024, a military court indicted Hameed on charges he engaged in political activities, violated anti-espionage laws and abused his authority ( archived link). He was convicted and sentenced to 14 years imprisonment by a military court in December 2025 ( archived link).
AFP has previously debunked other misinformation about Pakistan's military.