Claim: The SBP has shortlisted designs for the new banknotes, of which some will be selected as the official currency note after the Government of Pakistan’s approval.
Fact: The designs were announced as the winners of an art competition; none of them have been or will be selected as the official banknote of Pakistan after the government’s approval. The SBP has said the chosen artworks will be sent as inspirations for reputed international firms to create their own. The central bank also clarified that one of the designs was “wrongly interpreted […] as an attempt to project a particular religion” but was chosen for its “theme of religious diversity and nothing else”.
On 7 September 2024, Facebook page ‘TOK Videos’ posted (archive) a video showing different designs of Pakistani banknotes alongside the following caption:
“State Bank of Pakistan revealed potential designs for new currency notes.”
When translated into English, the Urdu text in the first few seconds of the video reads, “What will Pakistan’s new currency notes look like? Possible new designs of the currency notes have been revealed. The State Bank [of Pakistan] has issued shortlisted designs of the [bank] notes.”
An accompanying article (archive), titled “State Bank of Pakistan unveils potential designs for new currency notes in national art competition,” was posted (archive) on the Facebook page ‘The Times of Karachi’.
Many significantly viral posts made far-fetched claims — likely to fuel religious divide and controversy — about the inclusion of a crucifix and a face on one of the banknotes submitted for the art competition. They linked the creations to the Dajjal — an evil persona in the Islamic belief system who will appear before the Day of Judgement to deceive people — because of a triangular-shaped symbol and alleged that the SBP is “in the hands of the Jews”. Some of these can be found here, here, and here.
Art competition for new banknotes
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) had launched an art competition for new banknote designs earlier this year, calling on “local artists, designers and art students/designers” to submit their creations by 11 March.
“The participants may develop the designs on the themes, including but not limited to, social and cultural identities, demographic diversity, climate change and environment protection, economic development, natural landscapes, architectural heritage and national symbols,” the announcement said, adding that artists and designers were required to submit ideas for “all the seven (07) existing denominations (Rs. 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1000 and 5000) or fewer denominations based on their choice”.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reviewed the press releases available on the SBP’s website and found one from 5 September 2024, announcing the winners of the art competition.
It mentioned, “The shortlisted designs are suggestive in nature and are being shared with international designers who have been shortlisted to work with SBP and finalize designs for the new banknote series. The International designers, while drawing inspiration from the local art submissions, will, however, be free to employ their own design expertise and imagination to create final designs for the new banknotes series.”
The press release makes it clear that the shortlisted designs are “suggestive in nature” and were not selected as options for the finalised designs of the new official banknote.
Then, in another press release issued 12 September 2024, the SBP noted that the announcement of the results of the art competition “has been interpreted by a section of media and public as shortlisting of the designs of new banknote series”.
“The aim of announcing the art competition results, however, was only to appreciate the efforts of the artists and encourage them with monetary prizes,” it said.
The central bank also clarified that the “banknote designs that have won the art competition are not the short-listed designs for the new series”.
“The actual designs of the proposed new series are being designed by reputed international firms selected through a competitive process. The firms will submit their design proposals by December 2024 and the finalized designs duly approved by the SBP Board will be submitted to [the] Federal Government for approval by January 2025,” it stated, adding that the printing process would be initiated only after the aforementioned approval.
Some posts and news websites — such as this and this — also carried misleading images of completely different banknote designs. In fact, one even carried a visual with the text “Currency revamp: Pakistan introduces new, high-tech notes”, which is false as no new notes have been issued as of writing time.
However, we conducted a search and ascertained that they are from more than a decade ago. We found a news report from 2015, which carried the same designs and stated that the designer in question is Shan Ul Haq, who “designed the new notes as a concept project and never even had intentions of sending them in to SBP for consideration”. Reverse-searching further, we came across the banknotes in a 2013 post on The Desi Design, a Pakistani design and advertising magazine which lists Shan Ul Haq as a contributor. It also linked to the artist’s website, where, in their portfolio, we found the same designs.
“This self-initiated project’s goal was to redesign Pakistan’s currency notes while exploring different possibilities in terms of patterns, motifs, personalities, layout and typography,” Shan Ul Haq wrote about their work. We also found a blog stating that the artist designed the banknotes in 2012.
Truth behind posts fueling hatred
The claims regarding the crucifix and the face, Dajjal, and Jews controlling the SBP are common conspiracy theories.
The portion of the banknote where the crucifix appears also has other religious symbols, including a crescent and a star in two places that refer to Islam, a nod to the religious diversity in Pakistan.
The triangular shape or lines are often associated with the Illuminati group from the 1700s and the Freemasonry — a fraternal global secret society — due to the Eye of Providence or the All-Seeing Eye, a symbol regularly linked to the latter two. It is also equated to the Dajjal because of the evil figure being a “one-eyed man”, as evidenced here, here, here, here, and here.
The claim that the SBP is “in the hands of the Jews” — based on the emblem comprising four hands holding four wrists in a square shape on the banknote — is a localised version of the global conspiracy theory that Jews control the world. In modern times, the symbol refers to many things, including teamwork, charity and support, harmony and friendship, togetherness, solidarity, and collaboration, among others. Called the Fire Mark, it originally used to depict proof of insurance.
According to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History (NMAH) description of the Philadelphia Contributionship Fire Mark, “Beginning in the 1750s, some American insurance companies issued metal fire marks to policyholders to signify that their property was insured against fire damage. The fire marks bore the name and/or symbol of the insurer, and some included the customer’s policy number. The company or agent would then affix the mark to the policyholder’s home or business. For owners the mark served as proof of insurance and a deterrent against arson.” This shows that the symbol has been around for centuries.
Moreover, the SBP is a Pakistani government institution that is run by Pakistani officials.
Lastly, the SBP itself also addressed the posts propagating hatred and said, “One of the winning designs projected religious diversity and highlighted different religions being practiced in the country. Some segment [sic] of the public wrongly interpreted it as an attempt to project a particular religion. The Art Committee has selected the winning design only based on its art quality and the theme of religious diversity and nothing else.”
Soch Fact Check, therefore, rates the claims that the SBP has shortlisted designs for the new Pakistani banknotes and that the central bank is promoting a particular set of religious beliefs or “Dajjali curse” as false and conspiratorial, respectively.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found the claim published by major news outlets such as ARY News’ English and Urdu websites, Dawn News, Aaj News, Geo News’ Urdu website, Daily Pakistan here and here, SAMAA TV, 24 News’ Urdu website, Siasat.pk, and GNN News, as well as this blog, which is apparently run by journalist Javed Chaudhry and whose claims have often been debunked multiple times by Soch Fact Check.
The claim was shared here, here, here, here, and here on Facebook, here, here, here, here, and here on X (formerly Twitter), here on Instagram, and here, here, and here on YouTube.
Some of the significantly viral Facebook posts can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Conclusion: The designs in question won an art competition that was announced back in March 2024. However, none of those have been or will be selected as the official banknote of Pakistan. The SBP said the chosen artworks will be sent as inspirations for reputed international firms to create their own, which will then be sent to the government for approval. Among the designs was one that was chosen for its “theme of religious diversity and nothing else” but was “wrongly interpreted […] as an attempt to project a particular religion”, the central bank has clarified.
Background image in cover photo: StateBankPakistan
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