Claim: PTI’s Junaid Akbar recently met Manzoor Pashteen, founder and head of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) ahead of PTI’s rally on 8 February in Swabi.
Fact: The claim is false. Junaid Akbar and Manzoor Pashteen did not meet recently. The video being shared online dates back to December 2022.
Social media users have been sharing a video of the PTM leader meeting with Junaid Akbar amid a large crowd. The two can be seen hugging each other.
One version of the video (archive) circulating on social media contains the following Urdu text:
“اس لمحے کا کب سے انتظار تھا جنیدا کبر صاحب کا شکر یہ انھوں نے آخر کار درست سمت کی طرف چلنا شروع کیا ہے
پارٹی قیادت کو بلو چستان مہر نگ بلوچ کے پاس جانا چاہیے یہ
بار بار منافق مولانا کے پاس چلے جاتے ہیں۔ مولانا سے بہتر مہر نگ بلوچ اور منظور پشتین جیسے لوگ ہیں کیونکہ یہ بھی حقیقی
“آزادی کے لیئے لڑ رہے ہیں۔۔۔ !!”
[Translation: This is a long-awaited moment. Thank you, Junaid Akbar, for finally walking in the right direction.
The party leadership should go to Mahrang Baloch in Balochistan instead. They keep going to the hypocrite Maulana again and again. Mahrang Baloch and Manzoor Pashteen are better than Maulana because they, too, are fighting for real freedom!]
The caption implies that Akbar met with Pashteen recently.
Another version shared on YouTube contains the text, “جنید اکبر کی منظور پشتین سے ملاقات
آٹھ فروری کو کیا ہونے جا رہا ہے؟”
[Translation: Junaid Akbar meets with Manzoor Pashteen
What’s about to happen on 8 February?]
Who is Junaid Akbar and what happened on 8 February?
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter president Junaid Akbar announced plans to hold a rally in Swabi on 8 February on the call of the party founder. The report added that Akbar urged workers to raise the funds for the rally themselves instead of relying on the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Akbar emphasised that the 8 February protest rally in Swabi would showcase the party’s strength in reclaiming its mandate, The Express Tribune reported. He clarified that he is not seeking a ministerial position but is focused on his role as PTI’s provincial president.
Akbar and PTM
In October 2024, the federal government banned the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) placing its leader Manzoor Pashteen and others under the Fourth Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act, according to Dawn. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi had warned against PTM’s planned 11 October jirga then, stating that proscribed groups cannot hold gatherings.
Initially opposing the ban, the PTI-led KP government took a U-turn, aligning with Naqvi’s stance and enforcing Section 144 to prevent the gathering, the report added. However, PTM defied the ban, leading to clashes between its activists and law enforcers in Jamrud.
A separate Dawn report stated that, following these events, Junaid Akbar, MNA from Malakand, criticised the federal and Punjab governments’ actions against PTM, arguing that such oppression is unjustified. “The state’s oppression can’t end people’s movements; instead, the state’s brutality increases people’s support for them,” he added.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check first searched for news reports about a meeting between the two but found no evidence of any recent encounters.
We spoke to Ibrahim Kamil, a core committee member of PTM, who informed us that the video is from December 2022. He stated that the two met on the way back from the Sakhakot Aman Jalsa.
“Manzoor has not met him [Junaid Akbar] recently,” he added
While we couldn’t determine the exact source of the video featuring Akbar and Pashteen, we did find footage of the Sakhakot Aman Jalsa on Facebook, held on 26 December 2022, which can be viewed here and here. According to Facebook posts, the gathering was open to all Pashtuns, particularly those from Malakand and Dargai, to join in advocating for peace and justice in their homeland. Pashteen was a key participant at the event.
Virality
The video was shared here (archive) and here (archive) on Facebook.
It was shared here on Threads.
On TikTok, it was shared here.
It was shared here (archive) on X.
The video was also shared here and here on YouTube.
Conclusion: PTI’s Junaid Akbar did not meet Manzoor Pashteen recently; the video circulating online dates back to December 2022.
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Background image in cover photo: @Junaid Akbar Khan
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