Claim: Khursheed Shah has apologised for the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) “mistake” to join hands with Nawaz Sharif and remove Imran Khan’s government from power.
Fact: The PPP parliamentarian did not apologise for ousting Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf’s (PTI) government. Instead, he apologised for forming a coalition with the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) government.
PDM is a coalition of political parties in Pakistan, it was never an electoral coalition, but rather a movement aimed at removing Khan from power.
Fact or Fiction?
On 20 November 2023, X (formerly Twitter) user Kashif Baloch (@Skiper786) posted a clip of PPP leader Khursheed Shah’s interview with Dawn TV, claiming that he has admitted his party’s mistake for ousting Imran Khan from power and can be seen apologising for it.
The tweet is as follows:
“خورشید شاہ نے بھی اعتراف جرم کر لیا
ہم سے غلطی ہوئی ہم نے نواز شریف کے ساتھ ملکر عمران خان کی منتخب حکومت گرائی
ہم اپنی غلطی کی ہاتھ جوڑ کر معافی مانگتے ہیں
یہ سب تسلیم کرینگے اور معافی مانگیں گے لیکن عوام نے 8 فروری کو بدلہ لینا ووٹ سے
[Khurshid Shah also confessed to the crime
We made a mistake, we brought down the elected government of Imran Khan by partnering with Nawaz Sharif
We apologise for our mistake
All of them will admit and apologise, but the people will take revenge on 8 February by voting].”
Soch Fact Check searched YouTube for the key phrase “Khursheed Shah Dawn news interview” and came across an interview of the politician on Dawn TV’s program “Doosra Rukh” from 27 October 2023. At the 3:20 timestamp of the video, Shah was seen apologising for forming a coalition government with the PML-N for 16 months when the prices of essential commodities had risen in Pakistan. He said, “We [PPP] made a mistake, forgive us, we wronged the nation.”
In the claim under question, two clips from this interview have been edited and put together to show that he expressed regret about voting against the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan. When asked if removing Khan was a “fixed match”, at the 3:00 timestamp of this clip, Shah responded, saying that the PPP was asked to remove Khan’s government, but his party said that they will not take a path other than constitutional means to oust Khan from power.
Shah added that the opposition had proposed to sit down with the former prime minister to discuss the “Charter of Economy”, but he was unwilling to engage in any discussion or meeting.
When asked if he regretted being a part of the coalition government, later in the interview, Shah folded his hands again and said, “Forgive us. We didn’t support any government; we supported democracy and parliament.”
Contrary to social media claims, Shah did not give a statement apologising for Imran Khan’s removal from power, or terming it a mistake. In fact, the 48-second clip, taken from a longer interview, misrepresents his statements on the matter.
We also did not find any credible news reports carrying the viral claim.
Virality:
The tweet by @Skiper786 was viewed by 75,000 people and received 4,300 likes and 2,300 reposts. On X, the claim can be found here, here and here.
In addition, the claim was shared here, here, here, here and here on Facebook.
Conclusion: Contrary to the claim, Shah did not apologise for ousting PTI’s government from power. Rather he apologised for the PPP’s decision to form a coalition with the PDM government. He clarified that while his party was asked to oust Imran Khan’s government, they refrained from pursuing any unconstitutional means to do so.
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