Claim: A screenshot appears to show that Dawn published a news story on its website titled, “Flood in Pakistan is not due to Climate Change, but because people are not reading Quran.” Fact: The screenshot in question is doctored. Dawn did not publish any such news story. On 28 August 2022, Twitter user @Sidha_memer tweeted […]
Claim: A video shared on social media claims to show Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa attending Independence day celebrations at the Pakistan High Commission in London, where national song Dil Dil Pakistan was performed by Ukrainian singer Nataliya Shmarenkova. Fact: The caption is false and misleading. The video is not from the […]
Claim: A photo shows the wreckage of a Pakistan Army helicopter that was carrying six passengers, including 12 Corps Commander Lieutenant General Sarfraz Ali, to Balochistan’s Lasbela for flood relief operations and crashed on 1 August. Fact: The image is not related to the 1 August crash but is, in fact, from another incident from […]
Claim: A viral photo shows Turkey’s Army Chief General taking orders from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Social media users in Pakistan are sharing the image with captions highlighting civilian supremacy over the military in Turkey and implicitly drawing a comparison with the political climate in Pakistan. Fact: The photo, in fact, shows Turkish Land […]
Claim: A cartoon circulating on WhatsApp and social media that appears to depict the Pakistani military’s extensive involvement in the country’s political affairs was allegedly published in The New York Times. Fact: The cartoon was created by Indian artist Mujaid Alam and first surfaced online in 2020. It was never published in The New York […]
Claim: A video shared on Facebook shows former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Ahmad Shuja Pasha making “shocking revelations” about the country’s nuclear assets being “at risk”. Fact: The video does not show Lt Gen Shuja Pasha. It appears to have been taken from the now-deleted YouTube channel of Pakistan Army veteran Captain (R) […]
Claim: Numerous accounts on Twitter and Facebook claimed that an aircraft belonging to the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) crashed in Mian Channu in March 2022. Fact: The claims are false. It has been confirmed by both Pakistani and Indian authorities that an unarmed supersonic missile accidentally launched by India landed in an area of Pakistan. […]
Claim: In a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan, Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa paid tribute to 190 soldiers martyred during a four-day battle in the Noshki and Panjgur areas of Balochistan, requested a pay raise for the Frontier Corps (FC) and Rangers personnel, and asked for proper compensation for the martyrs’ families. […]
Claim: Pakistan Army’s former spokesperson, Major General Asif Ghafoor, is seen in a helicopter with Afghan Taliban’s Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, fueling the conspiracy that Islamabad is collaborating with the militant group. Fact: The photo that purportedly shows Major General Ghafoor and Akhundzada posing together for a selfie in a helicopter was doctored; the original […]
Claim: Pakistani soldiers were martyred during the Panjshir conflict in Afghanistan. Fact: The proof posted on social media by former Indian Army officers was, in fact, a picture of Pakistani actors in a military movie. On 10 September, various former officers of the Indian Army posted updates from Afghanistan on their social media, sharing a […]
Claim: Pakistani authorities hunted and killed a werewolf in Balochistan. However, some social media posts claim the mythical creature was found in Punjab’s Sialkot and Kashmir. Fact: Pakistani authorities did not kill a werewolf. The images being shared on social media feature an animatronic sculpture created by SFX artist Joseph-Rob Cobasky. [Content warning: Pictures in […]
Claim: Sindh Police and Pakistan Army exchanged fire in Karachi killing dozens of police men and army personnel. Fact: There are no reports of violence between police and army personnel in Karachi, although Sindh Police’s high command has protested the alleged intimidation of IGP Sindh by the military. In what seems to be a coordinated […]