Claim: In a 2022 X post, Maryam Nawaz Sharif praised then-Rawalpindi commissioner Liaquat Ali Chattha by calling him an “asset” of Pakistan and criticised the “propaganda against him” by Imran Khan.
Fact: Maryam Nawaz did not make a post on X praising Chattha; the screenshot showing as such is doctored. Moreover, Chattha was appointed as the Rawalpindi commissioner in January 2023, months after the alleged X post.
On 20 February 2024, Soch Fact Check received a WhatsApp message with the screenshot of an X (formerly Twitter) post by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz Sharif, who reportedly wrote:
“کمشنر راولپنڈی لیاقت چٹھہ پاکستان کا سرمایہ ہیں فتنے نیازی کا ان کے خلاف پراپیگنڈہ کرنا نیازی کی ملک دشمن سوچ کی عکاسی کرتا ہے
[Commissioner Rawalpindi Liaquat Chattha is an asset of Pakistan. The propaganda against him by the Fitna Niazi reflects Niazi’s anti-state thinking]”
The timestamp in the X post is: “10:31 AM · Sep 18, 2022.” The phrase “Fitna Niazi” — which translates to “Cursed Niazi” — refers to the former prime minister and founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan.
The accompanying text reads as follows:
“18 ستمبر 2022 ۔۔۔ مریم نواز کی یہ ٹویٹ لیاقت چھٹہ کے حق میں تھی۔ ن لیگ کے ساتھ تھا مریم نواز تعریفیں کرتی تھی اب سچ بول دیا تو زہنی مریض بنا دیا ،،، تالیاں
[18 September 2022 … This tweet by Maryam Nawaz was in favour of Liaquat Chattha. Maryam Nawaz used to praise him when he [Chattha] was with the PML-N, now that he has spoken the truth, he has been labelled mentally ill ,,, Clapping]”
On 17 February 2024, former Rawalpindi commissioner Liaquat Ali Chattha made headlines when he confessed (archive) to alleged rigging in the results of the 2024 general elections in Pakistan, saying they were “manipulated” under his watch and announcing that he was resigning from his post. He accused Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and “a top judge of the Supreme Court” of involvement in the process.
Chattha further alleged that “he was under ‘pressure’ from top officials to manipulate the results” and that, according to a report (archive) by The Independent, some candidates’ losses were converted into victories. He contemplated self-harm but chose to admit to what he did instead, the report adds.
Days later, however, he made an about-turn, saying his allegations were “misleading” and were made “at the behest of a political party”, The Express Tribune reported (archive). In a statement to a committee constituted by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), he “issued a public apology”.
2024 elections
The general elections in Pakistan were marred by allegations of rigging as results were declared (archive) “more than 60 hours after voting ended”, with PTI-backed independent candidates taking lead over those who contested on the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) ticket.
Despite being jailed (archive) for a total of 31 years for corruption, leaking state secrets, and an un-Islamic marriage (archive), former prime minister Imran Khan declared victory in a speech (archive) generated by artificial intelligence (AI), with 93 of the 264 seats secured by his independent candidates, according to the Reuters article cited above. The party of his main opponent, PML-N Supremo Nawaz Sharif, got 75 seats, with the former premier, too, claiming that he won.
Former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) was able to secure 54 seats, while the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) bagged 17 seats.
The National Assembly of Pakistan convened (archive) its maiden session on 29 February 2024, despite jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s PTI claiming the 2024 general elections were rigged. On 4 March, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif was elected (archive) as the country’s prime minister after beating PTI-backed candidate Omar Ayub Khan.
The PTI cried foul (archive) as the results of 18 seats “allegedly won by the party were ‘falsely changed’” and called upon its supporters to protest wherever they are in the world.
The pre-poll political landscape in Pakistan was characterised by distinct circumstances for Khan and Sharif amidst the shadow of alleged military interference. The former, incarcerated since 5 August 2023, was consequently disqualified from contesting elections, whereas the latter was “once targeted by Pakistan’s military establishment” but “appeared to have won the favour of the generals for the 2024 vote”, according to an Al Jazeera report (archive).
Sharif returned (archive) to Pakistan in October 2023 after staying in London for years. He had left for the UK in 2019 on medical grounds (archive) after being handed a seven-year jail sentence over corruption charges (archive). Six years later, however, he was cleared (archive) of all charges, and a lifetime ban on convicted politicians for running for office was ruled unconstitutional, paving the way for him to contest the 2024 elections.
Fact or Fiction?
To ascertain if Maryam Nawaz did post about Chattha, Soch Fact Check ran an advanced search on X using specific keywords, such as “لیاقت چٹھہ [Liaquat Chattha],” “کمشنر راولپنڈی [Rawalpindi Commissioner],” and “فتنے نیازی [Cursed Niazi].” However, our search did not show any results, indicating that the PML-N leader had not made such a post in 2022.
Furthermore, we looked up when Chattha was appointed as the Rawalpindi commissioner and found that it was 29 January 2023 (archive), months after the tweet was allegedly posted by Maryam Nawaz. A post (archive) on the Rawalpindi commissioner’s X account also confirms the date of his appointment.
Lastly, sifting through Maryam Nawaz’s official X account, Soch Fact Check found that she only posted (archive) once in the period between 17 and 19 September 2022, but the post was unrelated to Liaquat Chattha.
Therefore, Soch Fact Check concludes that the X post attributed to Maryam Nawaz is doctored.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found that the president of the PTI’s North Punjab Youth Wing, Sardar Tayyab Haider, posted the doctored image here.
Pakistani-Australian vlogger Sabee Kazmi, UK-based PTI fan Arslan Baloch, vlogger Waqar Malik, and BOL TV Crime Reporter Ehtesham Ali Abbasi also posted the same claim here, here, here, and here, respectively.
On Instagram, the image was shared here.
Furthermore, the claim was shared here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here on Facebook.
Conclusion: A screenshot showing an X post by Maryam Nawaz calling Liaquat Ali Chattha an “asset of Pakistan” is doctored; she did not make any such post. Moreover, Chattha was appointed as the Rawalpindi commissioner in January 2023, months after the alleged X post.
Background image in cover photo: Associated Press of Pakistan
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com