Claim: Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal has urged Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, to resign over his failure to be a good leader, especially after his inability to handle the October 2025 protests by the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).
Fact: The video actually shows Iqbal’s remarks during a press conference in November 2021 when he was criticising former PM Imran Khan, whose government had reached a deal with the TLP the previous month. His remarks in the clip have nothing to do with Field Marshal Munir.
On 20 October 2025, Facebook page ‘We One News’ posted (archive) a video showing a press conference by Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal and Punjab Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb on one side and an image of the military chief, Field Marshal Munir, on the other.
The text at the top of the frame reads, “عاصم منیر بہتر ہے کہ خود مستعفی ہو جائے پاکستان مسلم لیگ ن [Asim Munir, it’s better to resign yourself, says Pakistan Muslim League-N]”.
In the video, Iqbal — a key figure in the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) — apparently urges the military chief to resign over his alleged failure to be a good leader, especially what he says was his inability to handle the TLP’s October 2025 protests.
His exact remarks are as follows:
“بہتر ہے آپ خود مستعفی ہو جائیں۔ تسلیم کر لیں کہ یہ کھیل آپ کے بس کی بات نہیں۔ وگرنہ جس طرح TLP کے مظاہرے [سے] آپ گھبرا گئے، آپ کے اوسان خطا ہو گئے، اس وقت سے ڈریں جب بھوکے ننگے عوام آپ سے استعفیٰ لینے کے لیئے آپ کے ایوانوں کی طرف دوڑیں۔ وہ وقت دور نہیں … ہے مہنگائی سے تنگ آکے، بیروزگاری سے تنگ آکے، سڑکوں کے اوپر مظاہرے کر رہے ہوں۔ اس انارکی کو پھر کوئی روک نہیں سکے گا۔ وہ ایک ایسی انارکی ہو گی…
[It is better that you resign yourself. Admit that you’re unable to handle this game. Otherwise, the way you were worried [by] the TLP protests, you were frightened… Fear the time when the hungry, naked people will run to your chambers [parliament] to demand your resignation. That time is not far away … [when people] start protesting on the streets after being fed up with the inflation, fed up with the unemployment. No one will then be able to stop that anarchy. It will be such an anarchy…]”
TLP’s protest march, operation
On 11 October 2025, the TLP commenced the “Al-Aqsa Gaza March” from Lahore towards Islamabad to protest the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which was brokered by the United States after a two-year-long war.
Pakistan endorsed US President Donald Trump’s deal that put the ceasefire into effect.
The aim of TLP’s march was to stage a demonstration outside the US embassy in Islamabad and to express solidarity with the Palestinians.
However, clashes between law enforcement agencies and the TLP workers erupted in Lahore shortly afterwards, with one official saying at least “50 police officers were injured” and the party claiming “some of its members had been killed”. Mobile Internet was suspended and major roads closed in Punjab’s capital and Islamabad during the march.
There were multiple arrests as well but TLP claimed 700 were detained.
However, en-route to Islamabad, the protesters were stopped at Muridke where law enforcement — comprising almost 10,000 personnel — launched a four-hour, early morning operation during which at least five people, including one police officer, were reportedly killed.
Authorities accused TLP supporters of setting private and government vehicles ablaze, while the group claimed hundreds of its members were killed — both parties have made these claims without evidence.
According to Punjab Police Inspector-General Dr Usman Anwar, a total of seven TLP workers had died in Lahore and Muridke. Over 100 cases were registered against the party’s supporters and leaders, including its chief Saad Rizvi.
Punjab Information Minister Azma Bukhari said three civilians also died. Moreover, over “2,700 people, while another 2,800 were placed on an exit control list”, according to a report.
Meanwhile, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said it was “deeply concerned by the events that have unfolded since 8 October” that led to “multiple deaths and casualties among protesters as well as police personnel”.
“We are equally concerned by the lack of transparency and credible, independent information surrounding the operation, providing which was the government’s responsibility. While state authorities have neglected to address the TLP’s consistent role in promoting hate speech and inciting mob violence against individuals and groups, particularly religious minorities, this does not justify the alleged use of excessive force,” it said.
“The government must ensure that criminal acts are investigated promptly and the perpetrators duly prosecuted.”
On 24 October, Pakistan’s Interior Ministry declared the TLP a “proscribed organisation under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997”. The decision followed a federal cabinet meeting led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
While Rizvi, the party chief, is in hiding, the ministry placed his name — as well as that “of 290 leaders, financiers, and hardcore activists” — on the Provisional National Identification List (PNIL), or the no-fly list, “to prevent them from travelling abroad”.
TLP’s controversial history
The far-right, populist Sunni party — whose name translates to the Movement of the Prophet’s Followers — has a controversial history and has staged multiple — often violent and anti-West — protests over the years since its founding in 2015. It focuses on “protecting Pakistan’s draconian blasphemy laws” and has regularly urged the government to kick out western ambassadors. It has also been accused “of attacks against religious minorities”.
The TLP was labelled a terrorist group in April 2021 under incarcerated former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government but the ban was lifted in November that year following a deal.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse-searched keyframes from the viral video and found them to be from a press conference in November 2021.
On 5 November 2021, the PML-N’s official X (formerly Twitter) account had posted (archive) the same video with the following caption and tagged Iqbal:
“بہتر ہے آپ خود مستعفی ہوجائیں اور تسلیم کرلیں کہ یہ کھیل آپکے بس کی بات نہیں.وگرنہ جس طرج TLP کے مظاہرے سے آپ گھبراگئے آپکے اوسان خطاہوگئے ڈریں اس وقت سے جب بھوکے ننگے عوام آپ سے استعفیٰ لینے کیلیے آپکے ایوانوں کی طرف دوڑیں گے.
[It is better that you resign yourself. Admit that you’re unable to handle this game. Otherwise, the way you were worried [by] the TLP protests, you were frightened… Fear the time when the hungry, naked people will run to your chambers [parliament] to demand your resignation.]”
At that time, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was in power, meaning that the PML-N was in opposition.
Moreover, in the PML-N’s X post, we can see that Iqbal is flanked by Aurangzeb, as well as Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, a former Prime Minister who left the party sometime between December 2023 and April 2024.
While the viral video in question contains the logo of HUM News behind the text “BREAKING NEWS,” we were unable to locate the clip on the outlet’s YouTube channel.
However, we did find the complete press conference on the YouTube channel of Daily Qudrat; the exact remarks can be heard at the 26:38 mark.
Iqbal was, in fact, criticising Khan’s government, which had negotiated and reached a deal with the TLP.
Soch Fact Check, therefore, concludes that Ahsan Iqbal’s remarks are old and unrelated to Field Marshal Asim Munir.
It is important to note that Soch Fact Check previously investigated and debunked a similar claim pertaining to Iqbal and Munir, claiming that the minister said the military chief was not “suitable for the position he has been appointed to”.
Virality
The video by ‘We One News’ has so far been viewed over 880,000 times.
Soch Fact Check found the claim circulating here, here, here, here, and here on Facebook, here and here on Instagram, and here on Threads.
It was also shared here and here on X.
Conclusion: The video actually shows Iqbal’s remarks from a press conference in November 2021 when he was criticising former PM Imran Khan, whose government had reached a deal with the TLP the previous month. His remarks in the clip have nothing to do with Field Marshal Munir.
Background image in cover photo: ahsaniqbal.pk
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