Claim: Multiple news outlets claim that 95% of Pakistanis are satisfied with General Syed Asim Munir’s performance as the Army Chief on the one-year anniversary of his appointment.
Fact: The claim is inaccurate as no national survey was conducted to assess the popularity of the current army chief. The claim was followed by a series of seven individual interviews of people from different cities across Pakistan professing their support for the army chief and praising his accomplishments. Beyond that, the news reports do not mention where the figure of 95% comes from.
Fact or Fiction?
The claim was put forward by multiple news outlets, most notably Dunya News, SAMAA TV, and BOL News.
BOL News (archive) and Dunya News (archive) ran the news report on television followed by the same interview clips, on both channels.
SAMAA TV (archive) and Dunya News (archive) also published the news as news articles. Both articles follow a similarly structured story and share similarities content-wise too. They employ vague language such as “the public”, “the masses”, “the nation”, “the populace”, and “citizens”, without mentioning the source of the survey which has led to the 95% satisfaction figure.
The statements about public support of the Army Chief are followed by ‘achievements’ attributed to his tenure such as a crackdown on crime, repatriating ‘illegal’ immigrants, economic stability, and national security.
The article on SAMAA TV states, “As per the masses, an overwhelming majority of the population, approximately 95%, expresses satisfaction with the Army Chief’s performance, applauding his unwavering commitment to enforcing law and order in the country.”
Similarly, according to Dunya News, “The public has expressed satisfaction over the performance of the Chief of Army Staff Gen Asim Munir who assumed his office a year ago amidst economic challenges,” adding that, “Around 95% citizens expressed their satisfaction upon his efforts for controlling rise of dollar value.”
Soch Fact Check was unable to find any verified, national representative surveys assessing the public’s satisfaction with the Army Chief. The claim does not appear to have any specified or traceable sources. Furthermore, individual interviews have been used to give a misleading impression about the credibility of the claim.
Virality
The viral claim was posted here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Local media organisations shared the news crediting the original news sources here and here.
On the other hand, many people took to social media to point out the discrepancy in numbers and their dissatisfaction with the army chief as seen here, here, and here.
Conclusion: There is no conclusive, traceable survey or research that lends credibility to the claim that 95% of Pakistanis are satisfied with General Asim Munir’s year-long performance as the Army Chief. The claim appears to be false as it comes without sufficient evidence.
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