Video of children hugging father is not of Shahbaz Gill

Claim: A video shows former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s aide, Shahbaz Gill, meeting his children while in detention following his arrest last week.

Fact: The video does not show Shahbaz Gill or his children but about a couple of children who allegedly ran away from home due to an abusive father.

On 13 August 2022, Twitter user @mbilalkhanpti shared the video of two children, with one of them hugging a man who is crying. They are surrounded by a group of men in formal clothing, some of whom are filming the scene with their mobile phones.

The text, “Nouman3690,” is superimposed on the clip and a logo of what appears to be “DailyParwaaz” can be seen in the top-right corner. The tweet carrying the video is accompanied by the following caption:

“ڈاکٹر شہباز گل کی اپنے بچوں سے ملاقات, پہاڑ جیسا حوصلہ رکھنے والا بہادر شخص حب الوطنی کی اتنی بڑی سزا پانے پر رو پڑا, اے کپتان کے بہادر کھلاڑی حصہ رکھو, قوم آپ کے ایک ایک آنسوں کا حساب اپنے ووٹ سے لیگی. [Dr Shahbaz Gill’s meeting with his children … A brave man with enormous courage breaks down in tears over being meted out such a severe punishment for his patriotism. O brave player of ‘The Captain’, remain steadfast, the nation will exact revenge for each of your tears through their votes.]”

The tweet was shared after former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s aide, Shahbaz Gill, made some remarks on ARY News that the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) alleged were “hateful and seditious”. Gill was subsequently arrested and reports suggested the channel was taken off-air in numerous parts of Pakistan.

Soch Fact Check has previously debunked claims that Shahbaz Gill and his assistant were tortured by Islamabad police during the arrest.

Fact or Fiction?

Soch Fact Check searched for “DailyParwaaz” and found a YouTube channel with the same name, which claims to show “real talent, personal vloging [sic], News, [and] Amazing Stories”; a portion of its ‘About’ section has been copied from Capital TV’s YouTube channel.

Since 11 July 2022, DailyParwaaz has posted a series of videos about the “unique story” of two minor brothers who the channel claims ran away from their home due to their allegedly abusive father. In the seventh episode, the anchor gets the children and their father in the same room where a reconciliation takes place.

In the final episode, the two boys are filmed hugging their father who sobs at being reunited with his children and promises to be a better parent. The video has been archived here.

Soch Fact Check concludes that the video is in no way related to Shahbaz Gill or his children.

Virality

The tweet by @mbilalkhanpti has so far been viewed by over 117,600 Twitter users.

Soch Fact Check conducted a CrowdTangle analysis for the three-day period from 12 August 2022 to 15 August using the following search terms:

• “ڈاکٹر شہباز گل کی اپنے بچوں سے ملاقات, پہاڑ جیسا حوصلہ رکھنے والا بہادر شخص حب الوطنی کی اتنی بڑی سزا پانے پر رو پڑا, اے کپتان کے بہادر کھلاڑی حصہ رکھو, قوم آپ کے ایک ایک آنسوں کا حساب اپنے ووٹ سے لیگی [Dr Shahbaz Gill’s meeting with his children … A brave man with enormous courage breaks down in tears over being meted out such a severe punishment for his patriotism. O brave player of ‘The Captain’, remain steadfast, the nation will exact revenge for each of your tears through their votes]”
• “ڈاکٹر شہباز گل بچوں ملاقات پہاڑ حوصلہ حب الوطنی سزا رو پڑا [Dr Shahbaz Gill children meeting mountain courage patriotism punishment cried]”
• “کپتان کھلاڑی قوم آنسوں ووٹ [Captain player nation tears votes]”

The first search term turned up close to 17,500 interactions across 122 posts on Facebook.

On Facebook, the second and third search terms showed 111 posts with 17,342 interactions and almost 100 posts with 16,533 interactions, respectively. Both search terms turned up one Instagram post that gained 2,312 interactions.

Facebook posts that gained over 2,000 views can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and, here. A post by Instagram page @politicalhubofficial was watched more than 15,500 times and this tweet also incorrectly refers to the man in the video as Shahbaz Gill.

Conclusion: The video in question does not show Shahbaz Gill or his children but about a couple of children who allegedly ran away from home due to an abusive father.