Claim: A video circulating online shows US President Donald Trump speaking in Urdu, pledging to act against the Pakistan Democratic Movement. Fact: The video is doctored. Deepware and audio analyses revealed manipulated audio frequencies and deepfake characteristics. Following Trump’s victory in the 2024 US Presidential election, X user @Tabii_DxB shared a clip (archive) of Trump […]
Claim: Mohammad Zubair confessed that his meetings with General Qamar Bajwa and Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed led to the establishment of the PDM. Fact: Zubair has denied making any such statement. On 1 January 2024, the political discussion forum, Siasat.pk, posted (archive) a visual on X (formerly Twitter) with the following text, “پی ڈی ایم […]
Claim: Former Finance Minister Miftah Ismail stated that if the constitutional order and law in Pakistan was fair, Former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan would be out of jail and all members of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) would be in jail. Fact: Miftah Ismail did not make any claim of the sort and […]
Claim: An image attributed to Dunya News suggests that the former finance minister, Miftah Ismail said that the IMF bailout money was given to the media and PDM members instead of providing relief to the public. Fact: Ismail issued a clarification that he did not give any such statement. The screenshot shared by journalist Imran […]
Claim: Maulana Fazl ur Rahman claimed that half of Pakistan will be facing snowfall if elections are held in January 2024. Fact: The JUI-F politician’s statement is not true as half of Pakistan will not experience snowfall at the time of the elections. Moreover, most of the areas he listed himself will not face snowfall, […]
Claim: In a parliamentary speech, which was termed his ‘farewell address’ on 9 August 2023, former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif claimed that over the past 16 months, his PDM government did not incarcerate any political opponents or subject them to harassment. Fact: The claim is misleading. Several prominent PTI figures, political opponents of PDM, were […]
Claim: The economy of Pakistan has shrunk from 6.1% to 0.3%. Fact: The economy of Pakistan has not shrunk or entered a negative region but registered a comparatively lower GDP growth rate of 0.3%, as opposed to 6.1% earlier, indicating that it has experienced a slowdown. On 25 May 2023, the Express Tribune published a […]
Claim: A video shows Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khurram Dastgir Khan snubbing Awami National Party (ANP) leader Aimal Wali Khan by refusing to hug him during a political meeting. Fact: The video is cropped and taken out of context. Other videos from the same meeting show that the two leaders did embrace. On 14 […]
Claim: A picture shows Maulana Fazlur Rehman posing for a selfie with a young woman. Fact: The picture actually shows a bearded man in a turban and shawl — whom Soch Fact Check identified as Asjad Mahmood, the son of Fazlur Rehman — taking a selfie with his father. On 3 June 2023, Facebook user […]
Claim: A video shows Maulana Fazlur Rehman stepping off a state jet he used to travel to Thailand for a “private” trip. Fact: The video is actually from 2022 and shows Fazlur Rehman arriving in Karachi for another religious cleric’s funeral. On 2 April 2023, Umar Jutt, a special correspondent at Dunya News, tweeted a […]
Claim: A screengrab of journalist Shahzeb Khanzada’s show suggests that former finance minister Miftah Ismail had said that Imran Khan did not sign any agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that would lead to inflation in Pakistan, in fact, he saved the country from global inflation. Fact: Ismail issued a clarification that he did […]
Claim: Former finance minister Miftah Ismail has said that the government is putting the blame on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for riots on 9 May 2023 following former prime minister Imran Khan’s arrest and said that the internet was shut down to hide the truth. Fact: A fabricated statement has been attributed to Miftah Ismail; the […]