Claim: A video on social media claims that the Station House Officer (SHO) of Kohsar police station in Islamabad resigned from his position during the PTI protests last week. According to the video, the officer in question stated that he could not perform his duties as he is former PM Imran Khan’s “soldier” and “must stand with the public”.
Fact: The video is misleading. SHO Tipu Sultan is still working at Kohsar police station. The person claiming to be the SHO in the video was an impersonator.
Fact or Fiction?
On 25 May 2022, social media users started sharing a video in which a man with a face mask is talking about resigning from his job. The man is claimed to be SHO Tipu Sultan from Kohsar police station located in the F-7 area of Islamabad.
The video was posted on the day Imran Khan led a protest march towards Islamabad. At the time, the Islamabad police were ordered by the Federal Government to prevent the protest from taking place. As such, this video was probably shared in order to embolden the protestors by creating the impression that police officials like SHO Tipu Sultan were supporting Imran Khan.
After the video was flagged by users on social media, Soch Fact Check contacted the Kohsar police station where the police officers, who requested that we maintain their anonymity, told us that the person in the video was not SHO Tipu Sultan but rather an impersonator. The SHO’s colleagues told Soch Fact Check that a boy made the video as a private joke between him and his uncle, but the video went viral after he uploaded it onto social media. The officers, who spoke to us on the condition of anonymity, told us that the matter was currently under investigation.
The Islamabad police also denied the claims via their official Twitter account stating that the video was fake and that the SHO had not resigned.
Screenshot of official tweet by ICT Police
Virality
Soch Fact Check conducted a CrowdTangle analysis to investigate the virality of the post in question. A keyword search of the term “SHO Islamabad resign” shows that 1200 interactions across 4 posts were received.
The video in question was shared here, here, here, here on Facebook from 25 May to 29 May.
Conclusion: SHO Tipu Sultan did not resign from his position to support Imran Khan. The video purporting to show SHO Sultan resigning is fake and has been made by an impersonator.