Claim: Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry described Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, the late Pakistani nuclear scientist, as “fake,” a “joker,” and one of the “fake heroes” of Pakistan in 2012. Fact: Chaudhry did in fact tweet that Dr Qadeer was “fake,” a “joker,” and one of the “fake heroes” of Pakistan in 2012; however, the minister […]
Claim: Former Army Chief Raheel Sharif appointed as Newcastle United Football Club’s new manager. Fact: General (retired) Raheel Sharif has not been appointed the manager of Newcastle United Football Club. Newcastle United Football Club was sold to Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, on Thursday 7 October 2021. Shortly afterwards, on 13 […]
Claim: A video allegedly depicting Swedish artist Lars Vilks screaming from within a car at the site of a fiery crash has surfaced on social media, three days after Vilks died in a car accident in Sweden. Vilks was known for the controversy surrounding his drawings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Fact: The video is in […]
Claim: A Takfiri gathering took place In Islamabad under the patronage of the Government of Pakistan. Fact: The gathering was in fact a private event organised by a religious student union. Members of both the government and opposition parties were there, not as patrons but as invitees. An article by Jafria Press alleges that a […]
Claim: PML-N’s Maryam Nawaz Sharif described Prime Minister Imran Khan as her “hero” in a 2008 Twitter post Fact: The tweet in the screenshot being circulated is from 27 September 2008 but Maryam Nawaz Sharif did not join Twitter until January 2012. Therefore, the image must be doctored. On 5 October 2021, an Instagram account […]
Claim: Pakistan Army’s former spokesperson, Major General Asif Ghafoor, is seen in a helicopter with Afghan Taliban’s Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, fueling the conspiracy that Islamabad is collaborating with the militant group. Fact: The photo that purportedly shows Major General Ghafoor and Akhundzada posing together for a selfie in a helicopter was doctored; the original […]
Claim: Pakistani soldiers were martyred during the Panjshir conflict in Afghanistan. Fact: The proof posted on social media by former Indian Army officers was, in fact, a picture of Pakistani actors in a military movie. On 10 September, various former officers of the Indian Army posted updates from Afghanistan on their social media, sharing a […]
Claim: An image of a crashed Pakistan Air Force (PAF) jet was shared with overlay text that reads “Pakistani fighter jet was shot down by brave people of Panjsher Valley Afghanistan.” Fact: The image is from a January 2020 crash of a PAF training flight. The image has also been previously used by newspapers as […]
Claim: Facebook page Shura e Nazar shared footage of a plane exchanging missile fire with a target on the ground with the caption “last night, a Pakistani drone crashed in the mountains of Panjshir.” Fact: Soch Fact Check found the footage in question is in fact a screen recording from the video game Arma 3. […]
Claim: Fact: The video is actually of an American test flight at Mach Loop, Wales. Taliban attacks against the Afghan government intensified after US president Joe Biden announced his intention to withdraw from the country by 11 September 2021. Conflict between local players culminated in the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul on 15 August 2021. Fighting […]
Claim: Punjab has banned TikTokers and YouTubers from entering parks. Fact: An official of the Parks & Horticulture Authority (PHA) Lahore has submitted a list of recommendations to the body’s director-general suggesting that TikTokers and YouTubers be banned from entering parks. However, no such ban has been imposed yet as several approvals are required — […]
Claim: A Pakistani tabloid claims that author Fatima Bhutto demanded that Zahir Jaffer be given privileges in jail. Fact: Bhutto, in fact, criticised the Pakistani penal system for giving Zahir Jaffer privileges in jail. On 6 August, a tabloid news outlet called The Snazzy Report shared a post on Instagram that claimed author and columnist […]