Claim: Awami National Party’s (ANP) leader Ghulam Ahmad Bilour said it’s impossible to defeat Imran Khan and has graciously accepted his loss in the NA-31 Peshawar by-election.
Fact: Bilour did not issue any such statement. In fact, he refused to accept the by-election result and accused the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government of “massive rigging”.
Fact or Fiction?
On 16 October 2022, Twitter user MNA (@Engr_Naveed111) shared a screenshot of Express News’ social media post applauding ANP’s leader Ghulam Ahmad Bilour for accepting his defeat against Imran Khan in NA-31 by-elections in Peshawar.
“ایسا ظرف ہونا بھی اچھی بات ہے ! پتہ نہیں حاجی صاحب کب تسلیم کریں گے [It’s a good thing to have such a big heart! I don’t know when Haji Sahib will accept his defeat],” he tweeted.
The screenshot features a photo of Bilour and states, “عمران خان کو ہر انا ممکن نہیں شکست تسلیم کرتاہوں،احمد بلور [It’s impossible to defeat Imran Khan, I accept my defeat: Ahmad Bilour].”
The claim was also shared on Facebook: here, here, here, here, here and here.
It was also shared on YouTube, including here and here.
Soch Fact Check found the claim to be false. Multiple news outlets, including Express News, ARY News, Geo News, Hum News and Daily Times reported on 16 October 2022 that Bilour refused to accept defeat in the NA-31 by-elections and accused the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government of “massive rigging”.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) won the NA-31 Peshawar constituency in the by-polls held on 16 October 2022, along with five other National Assembly seats and two Punjab Assembly seats. The by-elections were held on eight NA and three PA seats.
Virality:
According to a CrowdTangle analysis conducted by Soch Fact Check using the search term, “عمران خان کو ہر انا ممکن نہیں شکست تسلیم کرتاہوں،احمد بلور [It’s impossible to defeat Imran Khan, I accept my defeat]” and found at least four posts carrying the claim which received 527 interactions.
The analysis revealed that the Facebook page Arham Tweets post received 910 likes and 331 shares while SHUGAL ON HA’s post gained 305 likes and 73 shares.
Twitter user MNA’s (@Engr_Naveed111) tweet received 366 retweets, 11 quote tweets and 1,527 likes.
Conclusion: ANP’s Ghulam Ahmad Bilour did not accept his defeat in NA-31 by-bolls in Peshawar against Imran Khan. The screenshot doing the rounds on social media is fake. In fact, he also accused the KP government of “massive rigging”.