Claim: Addressing a crowd at Zaman Park, Imran Khan said he would never take a loan when he becomes prime minister.
Fact: Imran Khan did not say that he will never take a loan when he becomes prime minister during the 21st iftar Zaman Park address.
On 12 April 2023, Neo News published an article on their website headlined “موت سے نہیں ڈرتا، وزیر اعظم بن کر قرضہ نہیں لوں گا: عمران خان نے 2018 والا منشور دوبارہ اپنا لیا “ [Translation: I am not afraid of death. I will not take any loans as the prime minister: Imran Khan has adopted the 2018 manifesto again.” They also published a tweet sharing the same article.
The article features an image of Imran Khan wearing a dark grey shalwar kameez and waistcoat and speaking to a group in a white tent. The article claims to report on Imran Khan’s 19th iftar address at Zaman Park.
Screengrab of Imran Khan’s address used by Neo News Urdu
Another screengrab from the same video
Fact or Fiction?
Through reverse image search tools, Soch Fact Check found a longer video of Khan’s speech at Zaman Park on 10 April 2023, published on his official YouTube channel.
In the longer video, Khan does not say that he will not take loans as a prime minister. He begins his speech by discussing how religion helped shape him as a leader and the significance of the Prophet Mohammad. He also mentions that he faced difficulties, just as the Prophet had to.
In this speech, Khan recalled his work ethic as the Pakistan cricket team’s captain and then mentioned the different battles the Prophet and the early Muslim community had to engage in. He goes on to discuss the Prophet’s last sermon and how his conscience does not let him accept bribes or surrender to someone else’s money and that those who take bribes commit the sin of polytheism.
However, Khan did not promise to not take any loans as a prime minister.
Virality
The Neo News Urdu tweet gathered 4,468 interactions and was shared with 1,662,940 followers on Twitter. It was viewed 161.7k times.
Neo News has around 356,614 followers on Facebook.
Conclusion: Imran Khan did not say that he will not take any loans as a prime minister.