Claim: Photo shows a poster urging army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa to seek an extension for his tenure.
Fact: The posters that surfaced on social media are photoshopped; Raheel Sharif’s photo has been replaced with Bajwa. The original posters were put up in January 2016 as part of a campaign by Move on Pakistan, a political party.
Fact or Fiction?
On 6 November 2022, Twitter user Faisal Sherjan (@fsherjan) shared a photo implying that posters requesting Pakistan’s chief of army staff, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, to extend his tenure have cropped up in cities across the country.
“Zero imagination. Who scripts all of this? Let’s be honest ISPR is a total failure. The moment it has been tested the bottom has fallen out of its narrative,” he tweeted.
The text on the banner published by a political party called Move on Pakistan reads, “ خدا کیلئے ! جانے کی باتیں ۔ جانے دو [For God’s sake, stop talking about leaving].”
Soch Fact Check found the claim to be false after a Google Lens search revealed that a similar image featuring the then-army chief General (retd) Raheel Sharif had been shared on social media in February 2016 by Express Tribune. The publication carried the image on 9 February 2016 in an article titled, “Campaign beseeching army chief to extend tenure kicked off in Islamabad.”
The original poster was shared on 8 February 2016 Facebook page Move on Pakistan – Official, which is followed by 194,000 people. The same poster can be seen in a press conference addressed by the party’s chairman Mohammad Kamran in 2016.
A member of Move on Pakistan, Rana Waqas, who identified himself as the chief organising officer of the party, confirmed to Soch Fact Check that the viral image is “fake and photoshopped”.
He further said that the original posters were put up in January and July 2016 as part of a campaign and had an image of General Raheel Sharif.
A New York Times article reported on the posters that popped up in July 2016. These posters pleaded with Sharif, “For God’s sake, take over.”
The proliferation of the claim doing the rounds on social media could be linked to the army chief’s tenure coming to an end on 29 November 2022. General Bajwa said, on 21 October 2022, that he would not be seeking another extension in his tenure.
Virality
On Twitter, the claim was shared here, here, here, here and here.
Faisal Sherjan’s tweet gained 1,727 likes, 444 retweets and 77 quote tweets.
It was shared here and here on Facebook.
Conclusion: The viral image is photoshopped as Raheel Sharif’s photo has been replaced with General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s. The original poster was put up in January 2016 to request the then-army chief to extend his tenure.