Claim: An image shared on social media on 14 July 2022 shows a huge crowd at a rally held by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Multan, Punjab, where party chief and former Prime Minister Imran Khan addressed his supporters. A poster with an image of Khan, former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, and Shah Mehmood […]
Claim: Former Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan wrote a tweet asking former Prime Minister Imran Khan to call for public protests if it appears that local elections are being rigged to stop people voting for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Fact: The account responsible for the tweet appears to be impersonating Nisar. No such tweet […]
Claim: According to video clips circulating online, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has passed away from a heart attack. Fact: Nawaz Sharif has not passed away. Fact or Fiction? On 12 July 2022, a video clip of Nawaz Sharif and Mayam Nawaz was shared with the following caption: “بہت ہی افسوسناک خبر میاں محمد نواز […]
Claim: Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif has announced his resignation and will be dissolving the country’s assemblies. Fact: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has made no such announcement. On 18 and 19 January 2022, several pages shared videos on Facebook with different variations of the caption, “شہباز شریف نے نئے الیکشن کی تاریخ دیدی اور […]
Claim: A Spanish newspaper recently published pictures of “thieves from around the world”, including former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif. Fact: Nawaz Sharif’s picture appeared in a 2016 article by Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia about the Panama Papers. Sharif’s name and photo did not feature in a recent article by the publication about international […]
Claim: A viral photo shows Turkey’s Army Chief General taking orders from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Social media users in Pakistan are sharing the image with captions highlighting civilian supremacy over the military in Turkey and implicitly drawing a comparison with the political climate in Pakistan. Fact: The photo, in fact, shows Turkish Land […]
Claim: A cartoon circulating on WhatsApp and social media that appears to depict the Pakistani military’s extensive involvement in the country’s political affairs was allegedly published in The New York Times. Fact: The cartoon was created by Indian artist Mujaid Alam and first surfaced online in 2020. It was never published in The New York […]
Claim: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) won the recent by-election in Swat by defeating a “13-party coalition of PDM [Pakistan Democratic Movement] single handedly”. Fact: There were four candidates in the Swat by-election, including one each from the PTI, the Awami National Party (ANP), and the Tehreek-e-Inqelab Political Movement (TiPM), as well as an independent. The […]
Claim: The current PMLN-led coalition government has not allocated any funds to the Kashmir Affairs & Gilgit Baltistan Division under the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) for the 2022-2023 financial year. Fact: Gilgit Baltistan & Azad Jammu & Kashmir (also known as Pakistan-administered Kashmir) will receive a combined total of PKR 52.6 billion under the […]
Claim: According to a video shared online, a Western judge decided to forgive a 15-year-old boy who was apprehended for stealing bread for his ailing mother. The video ends with a statement about how Pakistan’s judges are failing, while judges in the Western World are carrying out justice. Fact: The claim made in the video […]
Claim: A video shared on Facebook shows former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Ahmad Shuja Pasha making “shocking revelations” about the country’s nuclear assets being “at risk”. Fact: The video does not show Lt Gen Shuja Pasha. It appears to have been taken from the now-deleted YouTube channel of Pakistan Army veteran Captain (R) […]
Claim: According to a post shared by social media news site Startup Pakistan, citizens of Pakistan have rejected the government’s ban on tea. Fact: The post is false. The Government of Pakistan has not banned tea or tea imports. In a statement to the media, Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal urged the […]