Claim: Former president Pervez Musharraf has passed away after being put on a ventilator.
Fact: Musharraf’s family issued a clarification stating that the former president had not passed away. They clarified that he was not on a ventilator but had been hospitalised for the last three weeks due to a complication arising from Amyloidosis, a rare disease from which he suffers.
Fact or Fiction?
On 10 June 2022, Indian news website India Today claimed that former President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf had passed away.
The headline of the article read, “Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf passes away: Reports.”
Soch Fact Check found the claim to be false. The former president’s family issued a statement via Musharraf’s official Twitter account refuting the reports of his demise.
“He is not on the ventilator. Has been hospitalized for the last 3 weeks due to a complication of his ailment (Amyloidosis),” the statement said.
It continued, “Going through a difficult stage where recovery is not possible and organs are malfunctioning. Pray for ease in his daily living.”
Later, India Today changed its website story’s headline from, “Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf passes away”, to, “Organs malfunctioning, recovery not possible, says Pervez Musharraf’s family”. The outlet also edited the body of the story and included the statement by Musharraf’s family denying the passing away of the retired general.
The claims surrounding Musharraf’s death started doing the rounds on social media after some Pakistani and Indian publications carried it. Many publications quoted Waqt News’ tweet in their reports, which has now been deleted.
Screenshot of Waqt News deleted tweet
Virality
Soch Fact Check conducted a CrowdTangle analysis for the three-hour period from 3 PM to 6 PM using the following search term, “Musharraf”.
The search term turned up 661 posts which received 53,502 interactions on Facebook and 37,672 interactions across 64 posts on Instagram.
The analysis also revealed that the verified Facebook pages of Public TV, Pratidin Time and Aqsa Abdul Haq shared the claim.
Some other pages also shared claims about Musharraf being put on a ventilator following his critical condition, such as here and here, and about his alleged death, such as here.
On Twitter, the claim was shared by verified accounts including, Organiser Weekly, Sonam Mahajan and India Today.
It was also shared here, here, here, here, here, here,here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
It was also picked up by pages on Instagram, including here and here.
Conclusion: Contrary to viral claims, Pervez Musharraf has not passed away and was not on a ventilator, as confirmed by his family. Musharraf had been hospitalised for the last three weeks due to a complication arising from Amyloidosis, a disease from which he suffers.