Areesha Rehan

Areesha Rehan is a fact-checker at Soch Fact Check. She has a BSc in Social Development and Policy from Habib University and a minor in history. She previously worked as an editor for Tezhib, an undergraduate research journal at Habib University. Her areas of interest include post-colonialism, feminism and Marxism. She is passionate about animal welfare and walkable cities.

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Claim: 28-year-old Pakistani cricketer Usman Khan Shinwari has passed away from a heart attack while playing a cricket match. Fact: Usman Khan Shinwari did not pass away. His 46-year-old namesake, Usman Shinwari, passed away from a heart attack while playing a Corporate League match in Lahore. Fact or Fiction? On 25 September 2022, club cricketer […]

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Claim: A video of a grand birthday party that had gone viral on social media is from Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari’s son’s birthday. Fact: The video is not from Zardari’s son’s birthday but from a birthday in Sialkot. It went viral on social media before the wrongly attributed claim as social media users shared it, commenting […]

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Claim: The tallest skyscraper in China -fourth tallest building in the world- caught fire, leaving six hundred people dead. It was the biggest fire since 9/11. An additional claim in social media posts argues that the fire was an American conspiracy plan. Fact: No casualties from the incident were reported. Furthermore, the building is not […]

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Claim: Imran Khan pleads for Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Jawed Bajwa’s tenure extension in his interview with journalist Kamran Khan on Dunya News.  Fact: Imran Khan did not plead for General Bajwa’s tenure extension.  On 12 September 2022, Former Prime Minister Imran Khan appeared in ‘Dunya Kamran Khan Kay Saath’, a talk […]

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Claim: A graph shared in a viral tweet shows the rate of inflation in Pakistan along with the level of media outcry about inflation under the PTI government vs the PDM government. It claims that the media disproportionately created an outcry about inflation under the PTI government, as compared to the growing inflation under PDM […]

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Claim: A video on Facebook claims Shehbaz Sharif asked Imran Khan to help raise funds for flood victims in Pakistan. The video also claims the government urged Imran Khan to collect donations because large amounts of donations are being withheld by Pakistanis as well as foreign countries and organisations due to mistrust of the current […]

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Claim: Shi’ite rallyists attacked the peaceful Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat’s (ASWJ) rally in Khairpur on 11th Muharram. #StopSunniGenocide, #شیعہ_دہشتگردی_نامنظور [Shia terrorism is unacceptable] and #Shi’iteAttackonASWJRally were trending on twitter following the event. ASWJ media and supporters call Shia folk enemies of Islam and the state. ASWJ’s media team is using the clash to justify the implementation […]

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Claim: Former Prime Minister Imran Khan called for the Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan’s resignation for not including Khan’s photo in the new PKR 75 note. Fact: The news was shared by satire Twitter account South Youthia Index and is being shared as real news across social media platforms.   Fact or Fiction? On […]

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Claim:  A cloudburst time lapse is being shared on social media with the claim that it is from Jamshoro during the torrential monsoon of 2022. Fact: The video is from Perth, Australia and was shot in February 2020.  Fact or Fiction? On 19 August, 2022 Senator and Federal Minister on Climate Change, Sherry Rahman shared […]

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Claim: Al Jazeera reported “Pakistan provides air corridor for US military flights to and from Afghanistan”. Fact: Al Jazeera did not confirm the news. The Al Jazeera logo and headline have been doctored onto the image to make it look like a screenshot from Al Jazeera TV.  On 2 August 2022, US President Joe Biden […]

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Claim: Imtiaz Supermarket in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Karachi may collapse at any moment due to deterioration caused by the recent heavy monsoon rainfall. Water started entering the basement causing cracks to appear.  Fact: Imtiaz Supermarket is not likely to collapse due to damage caused by monsoon rainfall. The management of Imtiaz Supermarket has denied the claims, terming them […]

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Claim: Startup Pakistan shared a post claiming that the Pakistani government is selling a 100%  stake in several state-owned companies, namely Pakistan International Airlines, Pakistan State Oil, Sui Southern Gas Company, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines, Oil & Gas Development Company,  and Pakistan Petroleum. An article linked in the post further states that the government repealed […]

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