Claim: A picture shows Pakistan’s former prime minister and chief of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, lying on a stretcher after being wounded in a shooting incident during a rally he was leading towards Islamabad, Punjab, on 3 October 2022. Fact: The picture is not recent but, in fact, from 2014 when Khan was […]
Claim: A “witch” was filmed hovering in Kidney Hill Park in Karachi, Pakistan and strange noises heard by park officials in the dead of night. The person who shot the video was down with a 104°F fever. Fact: The video clip is, in fact, the work of Zambian visual effects artist and filmmaker Joseph Njovu, […]
Claim: One of Karachi’s busiest thoroughfares, Shahrah-e-Faisal, will be closed to traffic from 1pm to 4am on Monday, 31 October 2022, for International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS) 2022. Fact: Karachi Traffic Police Deputy Inspector General’s office confirmed to Soch Fact Check that Shahrah-e-Faisal will remain open today; the alert currently doing the rounds on […]
Claim: The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has removed Rule 13-1 from The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2018, allowing “gender change” for transgender folks. Fact: Section 13 of The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2018, pertains to transgender folks’ right to assembly and has nothing to do with a gender change. […]
Claim: Social media posts claim that the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2018 has been rejected. Fact: The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2018 — or any other transgender bill for that matter — has not been rejected either in the National Assembly of Pakistan or the Senate. One amendment was introduced in […]
Claim: The thumbnail image of an Urdu-language video shared by 24 News on YouTube and Facebook mentions that “more than 150 people have been martyred” in a “horrible blast”, accompanied by an image of an explosion. Fact: The thumbnail image is false because there has been no blast that killed over 150 people in October […]
Claim: A report by The Associated Press claims an amendment to the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2018, proposed by the Government of Pakistan, will allow transgender individuals to choose their gender identity on previously-issued official documents and that hardline clerics are opposing the suggested changes. Fact: Five different amendments were put forward by senators […]
Claim: A video shows a bird breathing fire from its mouth. Fact: The video is the work of Brazilian special effects artist Fabricio Rabachim, who posted it on his YouTube channel in 2020. On 24 August 2022, the Facebook page ‘Amazing World’ shared a video with the claim, “A bird that breathes fire from its […]
Claim: An image of a car’s bloodied interior shows the aftermath of Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif’s alleged assassination. Fact: The picture is, in fact, of the inside of the car in which Maulana Muhammad Adil Khan, a religious scholar and Jamia Farooqia Karachi’s rector, was assassinated in October 2020. It has no relation whatsoever to […]
Claim: A data table shows that 28,723 people changed the gender they were assigned at birth through the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) from July 2018 to June 2021. Fact: The NADRA has categorically termed the portrayal of the data as “misinterpretation”, saying that it is “not related to gender reassignment”. A spokesperson, Faik […]
Claim: ‘Behind Closed Doors’, a documentary made by filmmakers Michael Oswald and Murtaza Mehdi about Pakistan’s Sharif family, is set to be released on streaming services Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Fact: The director of ‘Behind Closed Doors’, Michael Oswald, confirmed to Soch Fact Check that no deal has been signed with either Netflix or […]
Claim: Pakistani mixed spices company Shan Foods Limited has launched a recipe masala packet called ‘Punjabi Biryani’ and claimed it is “World Famous in Punjab.” Fact: Shan Foods Limited has been manufacturing ‘Punjabi Biryani’ recipe masala packets for a few years now. A senior official at the company says the product is not recent; the […]