Claim: An image of a car’s bloodied interior shows the aftermath of Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif’s alleged assassination. Fact: The picture is, in fact, of the inside of the car in which Maulana Muhammad Adil Khan, a religious scholar and Jamia Farooqia Karachi’s rector, was assassinated in October 2020. It has no relation whatsoever to […]
Claim: A video shows a Baloch ‘revolutionary’ firing from behind a wall as a fire burns nearby during a clash with Pakistan Army soldiers in the Balochistan province following the crash of a military helicopter in Harnai, near Khost, in September 2022. Fact: The clip is, in fact, from Baluchistan, Iran, where a newly-formed armed […]
Claim: A flag made of locks of hair waves in Iran in solidarity with a young woman killed by the country’s “morality police” for not wearing her hijab properly. Fact: The black flag is actually an installation by Belgian visual artist Edith Dekyndt unveiled in 2014. On 21 September 2022, Indian media outlet Firstpost shared […]
Claim: A video shows Pakistan Army pilots risking their lives to rescue stranded people affected by the August 2022 floods in Pakistan. Fact: The video is not related to the August 2022 flood relief operations carried out by the Pakistan Army but is, in fact, from Afghanistan when a Mi-17 helicopter of the Afghan Air […]
Claim: A social media video shows a gunman attacking a family on the roadside in Karachi, Pakistan. Fact: The video is not from Pakistan but from a shooting in Ecuador in May 2022. On 10 September 2022, a Twitter user shared a video with an Urdu caption that, when translated to English, reads, “Blind shooting […]
Claim: A social media video claims that it shows a woman cutting her hair and protesting in Iran. Fact: The claim is misleading. The video is from Germany, where protesting in solidarity with Iranian women. On 25 September 2022, a Twitter user posted a video with the caption “Here is a woman leading a rally […]
Claim: Mohenjo-Daro will likely be removed from the list of World Heritage sites. Fact: Mohenjo-Daro was never under consideration for removal, and UNESCO has directed $350,000 to the recovery and restoration of heritage sites in Pakistan in the aftermath of the flood. On 4 September 2022, a Facebook post claimed that Mohenjo-Daro will likely be […]
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 […]
Claim: Russia’s President Vladimir Putin refused to meet Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit 2022. Fact: There is no truth to the claims as Vladimir Putin and Shehbaz Sharif met on the sidelines of the SCO Summit 2022 on 15 September 2022. Photos and videos from the two leaders’ […]
Claim: A screenshot shows a tweet by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in which he says, “I am surprised that on the visit to Pakistan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan wanted me to have a media talk of his choice. I saw there that the Pakistani authorities do not care about the people.” Fact: Antonio […]
Claim: According to British journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer, extreme weather events are not increasing worldwide Fact: Extreme weather events are increasing across the globe, especially in North America, Europe and Asia, according to the Summary for Policymakers report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). On 2 September 2022, Talk TV, a recently launched British […]
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 […]