Claim: The Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) draws a salary of PKR 15 million per month. Fact: The current SBP governor, Dr Reza Baqir receives a monthly salary of PKR 2.5 million. Fact or Fiction? On 7 January 2022, a forwarded chain message was shared on WhatsApp stating that the Governor of […]
Claim: The Lahore District Court has issued arrest warrants for activist Leena Ghani and singer Meesha Shafi in a criminal defamation case registered under the cybercrime law by musician Ali Zafar. Zafar has accused Ghani and Shafi of running a ‘malicious campaign’ against him on social media. Fact: On 19 February 2022, the Lahore District […]
Claim: Finance Ministry spokesperson Muzzammil Aslam has said that following the hike in petrol prices in Pakistan, he did not see a decline in the number of vehicles on the roads and people absorbed the [oil] shock because of the country’s high per capita income. Aslam also said that those calling the hike in prices […]
Claim: Posts circulating on Facebook claim that the station house officer (SHO) of the Civil Lines police station Muzaffargarh Mr Iftikhar Malkani arrested a couple on Valentine’s Day and forced them to get married at the police station. The posts are accompanied by an image allegedly depicting Malkani with the arrested couple, and others. Fact: […]
Claim: Three Pakistani universities issued guidelines for Valentine’s Day, directing male students to wear caps and female students to cover their heads, as well as forbidding “gender mixing”. Fact: All three universities in question have confirmed the notifications are fake. On 12 February 2022, copies of notifications allegedly issued by three Pakistani universities — Riphah […]
Claim: The ruling PTI has asked Iftikhar Ahmed Lund, former central vice president of its Sindh chapter, to keep his “iron rod” ready for July 23 by-polls in the province’s Ghotki constituency. Fact: The story, while true, is from 2019 when by-polls were scheduled to take place in Sindh’s Ghotki constituency. On 17 January 2022, […]
Claim: A video shows Indian Hindu men harassing young burqa-clad female students by throwing water on them as they make their way to class. Fact: The video is from a university in Sri Lanka where senior students can be seen ‘ragging’ first-year students. On 10 February 2022, Pakistani columnist Orya Maqbool Jan shared a video […]
Claim: TransPeshawar BRT, the bus rapid transit system in Peshawar, won the Sustainable Transport Award (STA) 2022. Fact: TransPeshawar or Peshawar BRT won the second “Honourable Mention” at the 2022 Sustainable Transport Awards. The first place award was, in fact, won by Bogotá, Columbia, in recognition of the city’s implementation of several sustainable mobility initiatives. […]
Claim: A video is being circulated with the claim that it shows an elderly woman, Naseem, protesting outside the Lahore Press Club following the disappearance of her daughter, who has been missing for four days. Fact: The clip does show Naseem but it is not recent. The video is from January 2021; it is being […]
Claim: Bill Gates has called for the withdrawal of COVID-19 vaccines after admitting that the pandemic was “a farce”. Fact: Bill Gates did not call for a withdrawal of COVID-19 vaccines nor did he make the other statements attributed to him in the viral WhatsApp chain message. The message is false as it is based […]
Claim: Lahore is now the centre of the COVID-19 Omicron variant in Pakistan. Fact: Lahore’s COVID-19 positivity rate is lower than some other Pakistani cities such as Karachi, Muzaffarabad, Hyderabad and Islamabad, as of 21 January 2022. It may, however, have the highest positivity rate of cities within the province of Punjab. On 21 January […]
Claim: The Government of Punjab has made it mandatory for boys and girls to wear caps and scarves, respectively, in schools across the province. Fact: Schoolchildren will only be required to wear caps and scarves when attending the classes reserved for Quran recitation and teaching. On 17 January 2022, journalist Hasan Zaidi, Dawn’s editor for […]