Claim: Social media post claims that it shows missing journalist Imran Riaz Khan’s first video statement for the public after he returned home on 25 September 2023. Fact: The claim is false because the video is from July 2022, when Khan was arrested near Islamabad and was later released by the court. On 25 September […]
Claim: Social media posts claim that Kashmiri separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said that Imran Khan’s political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), will govern Pakistan in the new government. Fact: The claim is false. The video clip is from 2018, when PTI was elected for the first time. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq did not predict that the […]
Claim: A Facebook video claims that it shows journalist Imran Riaz Khan talking to the media when he returned home after being missing for four months. Fact: The claim is false because the video is from February 2023, when Imran Riaz was freed from the FIA’s custody after the case against him was dismissed. On […]
Claim: A schedule shows a cancelled flight of Nawaz Sharif’s from the UK to Pakistan. Fact: The image is doctored. Moreover, the picture shows PK-785, a PIA flight, which cannot possibly fly because the airline is banned from travelling to and from the UK and the EU. On 15 September 2023, X (formerly Twitter) user […]
Claim: Two photographs show the jail cell in which Imran Khan is being detained. Fact: The images are, in fact, of cells in the closed-down Ohio State Reformatory and Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary; they were taken in 2021 and 2016. On 11 August 2023, X (formerly Twitter) user @p4pakipower1 posted a picture (archive) apparently of a […]
Claim: Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar took a selfie inside the UNGA hall on his state trip to New York. Fact: The selfie, while authentic, was taken in 2019 when Kakar was a senator. It’s unrelated to his tenure as caretaker prime minister. On 20 September 2023, Facebook user ‘Sadiq Kakar’ posted a picture (archive) showing Pakistan’s interim […]
Claim: A viral image shows Sahar Ata Bandial, the daughter of Pakistan’s former top judge, Umar Ata Bandial. Fact: The image does not show Sahar Bandial but Shiffa Z. Yousafzai. On 13 September 2023, the X (formerly Twitter) user @Drsamina19 posted a picture (archive) claiming it shows Sahar Ata Bandial, the daughter of former Chief […]
Claim: Before the parliament’s dissolution, President Arif Alvi approved an anti-Shia bill without consulting any religious schools of thought. Fact: President Arif Alvi returned the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Act 2023 On 16 August 2023, a Twitter user claimed that the president had given his assent for an “anti-Shia” bill, and the community had come out […]
Claim: In a parliamentary speech, which was termed his ‘farewell address’ on 9 August 2023, former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif claimed that over the past 16 months, his PDM government did not incarcerate any political opponents or subject them to harassment. Fact: The claim is misleading. Several prominent PTI figures, political opponents of PDM, were […]
Claim: A picture shows Nawaz Sharif walking with the judge, Humayun Dilawar. A similar post claims the image depicts Sharif walking with the late judge, Arshad Malik. Fact: The man walking alongside Nawaz Sharif is journalist Kousar Kazmi, not Dilawar or Malik, the latter of whom has passed away. On 18 August 2023, Soch Fact […]
Claim: Pakistan’s interim prime minister, Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, has appointed his son as Balochistan’s sports minister. Fact: The image actually shows Nawabzada Mir Jamal Khan Raisani, the son of the late Mir Siraj Khan Raisani, taking oath as Balochistan’s Sports and Youth Affairs Minister. On 2 September 2023, Soch Fact Check received a WhatsApp message that […]
Claim: A viral WhatsApp message claims that Pakistani currency notes in denominations of 500, 1000, or 5000 rupees bearing serial numbers beginning with AF, CE, or HO are counterfeit. It further suggests that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has released a press statement to alert the public. Fact: The claim is false. A representative […]