Claim: A sky letter banner flown from an aeroplane during the Pakistan-India cricket match on 9 June 2024 in New York actually carried a message that Imran Khan will only be released if he returns money stolen through corruption.
Fact: The sky letter banner originally only read “Release Imran Khan” and does not make any reference to corruption. Other images circulating on social media are doctored.
On 11 June 2024, X (formerly Twitter) user @RT10Aisha posted (archive) a visual comprising an image of an aeroplane with a sky letter banner, a picture of the incarcerated former prime minister and founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, with cigarettes stuffed in his mouth, nose, and ears, and some text in Urdu.
The sky letter banner reads “CORRUPTION KA PAISA WAPIX KRO THEN WE WILL RELEASE IMRAN KHAN [Return the money stolen through corruption, then we will release Imran Khan].”
Along with the visual, @RT10Aisha wrote the following caption, which includes the hashtag “#JibrandoExposed”:
“عوام اب ان کے کالے کرتوتوں سے واضح واقف ہے
[People are now clearly aware of their [PTI’s] dark deeds]”
The text included in the visual is as follows:
“چرسی جہاز عمران نیازی کے پوسٹر جہاز پر ان یوتھیوں سے کبھی بھی سچ بولنے کی امید نہیں کی جاسکتی، پاکستان انڈیا کرکٹ میچ میں جہاز یہ والے پوسٹر لے کر چکر لگا رہا تھا لیکن قوم یوتھ اور جبران الیاس امریکی سی آئی اے ایجنٹ نے اسے شاطرانہ طریقے سے ایڈٹ کر کے عمران نیازی کے حق میں بنا دیا
[Poster of charsi [addict] Imran Niazi on an aeroplane. These Youthiyas can never be expected to tell the truth, the aeroplane was flying around with this poster during the Pakistan-India cricket match, but the Youthiya community and American CIA agent Jibran Ilyas edited it in a cunning way to favour Imran Niazi]”
Imran Niazi refers to the former premier, whose full name is Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi. The word charsi, or drug-user, has been used in a derogatory manner, referring to claims from different times that Khan consumes drugs and alcohol.
The word “Jibrando” used in the hashtag is a portmanteau combining an Urdu slur and the first name of Jibran Ilyas, the secretary of the PTI’s social media team. Some variations of the same claim on X used the hashtag “#TeamJibrando”.
“Youthiya”, too, is a portmanteau commonly used to refer to PTI supporters, often in a derogatory manner.
India beat Pakistan by six runs during the Men’s Twenty20 (T20) World Cup 2024 held on 9 June 2024 at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York, US.
The Imran Khan fiasco
Khan was first arrested (archive) on 9 May 2023 on the orders of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) over charges of corruption in the Al-Qadir Trust case (archive). His detention triggered violent, country-wide protests and he was released (archive) a few days later after the Supreme Court of Pakistan intervened.
Khan was arrested (archive) and imprisoned for a second time on 5 August 2023, after a court ruled his “dishonesty [was] established beyond doubt” in the Toshakhana case. He has been incarcerated since then.
In January 2024, just a month ahead of the 2024 general elections in Pakistan, he was sentenced for a total of 31 years over charges of corruption, leaking state secrets, and an un-Islamic marriage, according to these reports (archived here and here).
Most recently, Khan was seen for the first time (archive) since his incarceration in an apparently leaked photo from the 16 May 2024 Supreme Court proceedings that allowed him an appearance via a video link.
A day prior to the court proceedings, the PTI leader was granted (archive) bail in a corruption case. Earlier, the sentences handed down to him in two of the four cases he was convicted in were also suspended; one of them (archive) was the Toshakhana case. However, Khan would not be released from jail, his lawyer said (archive).
On 3 June, Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi — another PTI leader and former foreign minister — were acquitted (archive) by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in the cipher case (archive).
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check first reviewed the image of the banner attached to the aeroplane, which seems to be doctored.
Firstly, the words “CORRUPTION KA PAISA WAPIX KRO THEN WE WILL” are superimposed as is evident from the difference in the font and size of the letters. This part of the text is also too clear as opposed to the part that says, “RELEASE IMRAN KHAN.” The latter is slightly pixelated in comparison, possibly due to the moving aeroplane.
Secondly, “Wapix” is spelled incorrectly, as it should be “wapis,” which means “return” in Urdu.
When Soch Fact Check reviewed images and videos of the flying aeroplane from the event that were shared online — here, here, here, and here, as well as on X here, here, and here — we noted that it clearly shows the text in the sky letter banner as saying, “RELEASE IMRAN KHAN.”
Moreover, the PTI’s official X account posted a photo of the banner here.
To confirm its authenticity, Soch Fact Check also requested a spectator, who was at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium during the Pakistan-India match, to share a video they had recorded of the plane carrying the sky letter banner.
The clip shared by the spectator confirms that the banner only read, “RELEASE IMRAN KHAN.”
Posts by different users — including Dr Shahbaz Gill, a PTI leader and former aide to Khan when he was the prime minister — identified at least one person who was part of the team behind the sky letter banner effort: @junaidkj, who goes by ‘Ghaazi Khan’ on X. These posts can be found here, here, here, here, and here.
Separately, a post by BOL News’ international correspondent in the US, Nasir Qayyum Khan, carries a video statement, in which members of the team behind the sky letter banner effort are identified as “Zeeshan Khalid from New Jersey, Dr Osman, and Junaid Khan from Virginia”.
On his X account, @junaidkj posted “some images from the pilot cockpit who was flying the Release Imran Khan message” and thanked members of the PTI’s team in the US, including Dr Malik Usman, Atif Khan, Zeeshan Khalid, and Sajjad Burki.
It was an honor to work on the Aerial Messaging campaign #ReleaseImranKhan during the India vs. Pakistan cricket match. The ideology of @ImranKhanPTI cannot be suppressed or forgotten. Overseas Pakistanis stand with Imran Khan and always will.
Thanks to @MalikUs64816178,… pic.twitter.com/kDPF2C6XJa
— GhaaziKhan (@junaidkj) June 9, 2024
@junaidkj also reposted a post by First Pakistan Global, which describes itself as “a non-profit organization comprised of entities and members residing abroad, dedicated to advocating for the betterment of Pakistan” and was also a part of the sky letter banner effort during the Pakistan-India match in the US. It mentioned on X that the message on the banner indeed said, “RELEASE IMRAN KHAN.”
Soch Fact Check reached out to Junaid Khan, or @junaidkj, for a comment but did not receive a response at the time of publishing this article.
Furthermore, the image of Imran Khan with cigarettes stuffed up his mouth, nose, and ears is doctored as well. The original picture, without any cigarettes, is from November 2007 and available on Associated Press (AP) Photos here.
Soch Fact Check, therefore, concludes that the claim is false as the banner did have the words “RELEASE IMRAN KHAN” on it. Images claiming otherwise are doctored.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found the claim here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here on X.
On Facebook, we found the claim here, here, here, here, and here.
Conclusion: Social media posts claiming that the original message on a sky letter banner flown during the Pakistan-India cricket match on 9 June in New York was “CORRUPTION KA PAISA WAPIX KRO THEN WE WILL RELEASE IMRAN KHAN” are false. It did, in fact, read “RELEASE IMRAN KHAN.”
Background image in cover photo: AaDil
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com