Claim: PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif was severely upset at the recent Supreme Court decision and announced a political split from PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari.
Fact: Several viral Facebook posts doctored videos of Nawaz Sharif’s address at the Asma Jahangir Conference 2021, his speech at a political rally in Lahore from 13 December 2020 and his address at the All Parties Conference held on 20 September 2020, with a fake caption claiming that he has announced a political separation from PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari.
On 26 July 2022, a Facebook page shared a video of Nawaz Sharif addressing an audience online, with a caption claiming that in light of his disappointment with the recent Supreme Court decision, he was ending his political alliance with Asif Ali Zardari.
Caption:
عدالت کے فیصلے پر نواز شریف سخت ناراض.. نواز شریف نے آصف علی زرداری سے علیحدگی کا اعلان کر دیا
[Translation]:
Nawaz Sharif is extremely upset with the court’s decision… Nawaz Sharif announced his separation from Asif Ali Zardari
Fact or Fiction?
Posts sharing the video clips in question include captions that claim Sharif is ending his political alliance with Zardari, however, Sharif makes no such claims in the videos attached.
By conducting a Google Reverse Image Search, Soch Fact Check confirmed that Sharif’s address is from the All Parties Conference held on 20 September 2020. We also looked at video clips of Sharif’s online speeches and found he is dressed identically in the recent viral video. It is clear that the background for each of the videos has been changed and social media users are sharing the doctored versions with captions claiming that Sharif is ending his political alliance with Zardari.
As another video begins to play, in the first 4 seconds, Nawaz Sharif welcomes the audience attending the Asma Jahangir conference. This confirms that the video is taken from Nawaz Sharif’s address to one of the instalments of the Asma Jahangir Conference which is hosted by the Asma Jahangir Legal Aid Cell (AGHS) every year.
A Google Reverse Image Search confirmed that this address is from 2021 and the background of the video call has been changed by the Facebook page which has taken it out of context. NayaDaur posted a clip of this address on their YouTube channel in November 2021.
Soch Fact Check reached out to the AGHS to confirm Nawaz Sharif’s presence and his online address at the conference in 2021. Their official publication, Voicepk.net, provided us with photographs from the event which clearly show Nawaz Sharif addressing the audience at the conference through a video call.
We also discovered other versions of the same post in which Nawaz Sharif’s address from the Lahore Rally on 13 December 2020 was edited into the video instead of his speech at the Asma Jahangir conference. One such post was made by a Facebook page called CNS 24/7 Christian News Service which also edited a continuously running ticker onto the video which read “Nawaz Sharif upset at the supreme court decision – announces political separation from Asif Zardari”
Another post used Nawaz Sharif’s speech from the All Parties Conference, held on 20 September 2020. The original clip of his address at the APC can be viewed here.
The claim’s falsity is further confirmed by the fact the PPP already resigned from the PDM in April 2021, so there would be no basis for Nawaz Sharif to announce that Asif Ali Zardari was separating from the PDM.
Virality
Soch Fact Check conducted a CrowdTangle analysis for the 1-day period from 26 July 2022 to 27 July 2022 using the following search terms:
- “شریف” “علیحدگی” “زرداری”
CT Analysis showed that these posts have gathered 13,160 interactions through over 4,336 posts in those 24 hours.
We found that the same video was shared widely in the same period by various social media users and some of them used a different background, however the address was the same. These posts were removed before the article was published. Examples can be found here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
We also found examples of the same claim being shared here and here. These videos were viewed 26,069 times and received over 4,000 interactions on Facebook.
Conclusion: On 27 July 2022, a Facebook video went viral, being posted simultaneously by multiple accounts, claiming that PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif has announced a political separation from Asif Ali Zardari after the disappointment of the recent Supreme Court decision. Soch Fact Check found that this was a video clip taken from Nawaz Sharif’s address at the Asma Jahangir Conference 2021 and from his online speech at a political rally in Lahore held on 13 December 2020. Sharif does not mention ending his political alliance with Zardari in these clips.