Claim: Dawn News reported that 80% of Pakistanis were “happy with how a soldier was beaten at Islamabad [a] University”.
Fact: The claim seems to refer to an incident at Sarhad University. Dawn’s reporting on the matter does not contain any survey on public opinion, and makes no reference to an 80% figure. No other news report corresponding with this data was found.
On 24 August 2026, the verified Facebook account Noor Ul Ain shared a graphic showing a uniformed individual during the confrontation at Sarhad University of Science and Information Technology’s Islamabad campus.
Screenshot: Facebook
The Urdu caption accompanying the post read:
“تم نے ایک ہاتھ گریبان تک ڈالا تھا دیکھو کتنے ہاتھ آن پہنچے ہیں !
اور سوشل میڈیا 80 فیصد لوگ اس بات سے خوش بھی ہیں !”
[Translation: “You had put one hand on the collar, now look how many hands have arrived. And 80% of people on social media are also happy about this!”]
Text superimposed on the graphic read, “According to a Dawn News report: 80% of Pakistanis are happy with how the soldier was beaten at Islamabad University.”
What happened at Sarhad University?
On 24 August 2026, an army officer fired shots in the air during a heated argument with students at Sarhad University of Science and Information Technology (SUSIT), Islamabad. Several verified and unverified videos of the incident have since gone viral.
A BBC Urdu quoted Assistant Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad Hamza Humayun stating that the army officer has been taken into protective custody and there is a strong possibility of a summary court martial trial against him. He also mentioned that the detained individual is an army officer of the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
According to the publication, the students were holding a protest against the Director of Human Resources (HR), who is also the wife of the army officer involved in the incident. Quoting local police, BBC Urdu reported that she filed a harassment complaint against a head of department, following a dispute between the two over a departmental issue, after which he was suspended from the university.
Sawan Circle SP told the news outlet that the HR Director also lodged a complaint against the professor at a local police station, which she took back after he gave an apology in writing. Soch Fact Check has not been able to independently verify these reports.
Voicepk quoted students saying that the HOD is a “respected faculty member”, which is why they were protesting in favor of his reinstatement, as they alleged that a false complaint had been made against him. An administration official told BBC Urdu that the HR Director was headed towards her office when some students “started shouting” at her, which is when she called her husband – the military officer in the viral video – who then got into an altercation with the protesting students.
BBC Urdu also quoted an anonymous federal police official stating that the matter has been made part of the official government record because a legal document is required for departmental action against a military officer.
Dawn also reported on 24 August that a security official was in custody and facing disciplinary action under military law following a scuffle at the university. The report cited sources involved in the investigation.
Soch Fact Check has not independently verified any of the above reports, this article only fact-checks claims that the DG ISPR gave a press conference addressing the incident.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reviewed Dawn’s reporting on the 24 August incident to determine whether the news organisation had published the 80% figure attributed to it in the viral graphic.
An 24 August report describes the confrontation at Sarhad University, the video circulating online, the alleged firing, and the disciplinary proceedings reportedly initiated against the security official. It does not state that 80% of Pakistanis supported or were happy about the individual being beaten, nor does it cite a poll, survey, or estimate measuring public reaction to the incident. A second report published in Dawn’s 25 August newspaper also contains no poll, survey, or estimate of public approval.
Soch Fact Check also reviewed Dawn’s dated news archive for 24 August. The archive includes its report on the Sarhad University incident, but we found no separate Dawn report containing the alleged 80% figure or a survey measuring public reaction. Dawn.com also shared its report on its official Facebook page. The post stated that a security official was in custody and facing disciplinary action under military law following the confrontation, but did not mention any poll or survey on public opinion.
Because the viral graphic specifically attributed the figure to “Dawn News”, Soch Fact Check did not limit its review to Dawn’s English-language website and newspaper. On 25 August, we also searched the Dawn News Urdu website and publicly available material from Dawn News’ official Facebook, Instagram, X, and YouTube accounts using combinations of “Sarhad University”, “80%”, “80 percent”, “Pakistanis”, and “happy”, as well as corresponding Urdu terms. Soch Fact Check found no Dawn News report, poll, survey, or social media post matching the attribution in the viral graphic.
The graphic does not link to the alleged Dawn News report. It does not identify a polling or survey organisation, provide a sample size, state when any survey was conducted, explain how the supposed 80% figure was calculated, or describe a methodology.
Dawn reported on the confrontation at Sarhad University’s Islamabad campus, but the relevant reports, dated archive, and official Facebook post do not contain the statistic quoted in the graphic. Soch Fact Check also found no corresponding report from Dawn News about any opinion polls or surveys.
Dawn’s 24 August report described the confrontation but contained no 80% figure or survey measuring public reaction. Screenshot: Dawn
Dawn’s 25 August newspaper report also contained no 80% figure or survey measuring public reaction. Screenshot: Dawn
Virality
Soch Fact Check identified at least 22 posts sharing or repeating the claim, including 19 on Facebook, one on Instagram, and two on Threads. Together, the Facebook posts had accumulated approximately 25,300 reactions, 2,393 comments, 1,383 shares, and 5,000 views.
Conclusion: Dawn reported on the 24 August confrontation at Sarhad University’s Islamabad campus. However, its reports do not state that 80% of Pakistanis were happy about the individual being beaten and cite no poll or survey measuring public reaction.
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