Claim: A recent report claimed that the Central Directorate of National Savings (“National Savings”), the state-owned savings bank of Pakistan, has bumped up profit rates on various government schemes. Fact: The increase in National Savings’ profit rates mentioned in the report in fact came about in July 2020 and is not a recent development. However, […]
Claim: A 21-year-old girl was forced to marry a 10-year-old boy, causing many Pakistanis to react with fury. Fact: The alleged incident occurred in 2017 and is not recent. On 25 October 2021, Urdu-language Pakistani newspaper Daily Ausaf published a news story with the following headline: “10سالہ نوعمر لڑکا اور 21سالہ جوان لڑکی۔۔۔پاکستان کے بڑے […]
Claim: A photograph shows the oldest tree in the world, a 6,000 year old giant tree in Tanzania. Fact: To date, no tree in the world has been verified to be 6,000 or more years old. The oldest living non-clonal tree on record is a more than 4,800-year-old bristlecone pine called ‘Methuselah’ in the Inyo […]
Claim: The PKR 5,000 note will be discontinued and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has announced the date that this move will take place. Fact: The SBP has not announced a decision to discontinue the PKR 5,000 banknote and, in fact, has no plans to do so in the future. In an email to […]
Claim: The Government of Sindh has announced a public holiday on 4 November. Fact: The Sindh government has indeed announced that 4 November will be a holiday to mark the annual Diwali festival. However, the holiday applies only to Hindu employees of the provincial government. On 1 November 2021, claims that the Government of Sindh […]
Claim: A private bank shut down a transgender activist’s newly-opened account, claiming that her income did not comply with Shariah laws. Fact: The incident did occur but it dates back to January 2021; some websites have picked up the story and rehashed it as a new incident. News media website Pak 92 News on 29 […]
Claim: The cover of The Economist’s 9 October Asia edition features an image of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, accompanied by text stating, “Imran Khan Will Win The Next Elections.” Fact: The Economist never published such a cover and the image appears to be doctored. The text on the cover seems to have been taken […]
Claim: A photo of a grave shows the final resting place of Liaquat Ali Khan, one of Pakistan’s founding fathers and the country’s first prime minister. Fact: The grave is in fact of Liaquat Ali Khan’s mother, Mahmuda Begum. On 28 September 2021, a Facebook user shared a photo of an old, crumbling grave, with […]
Claim: A video purportedly taken from the Burj Khalifa depicts Cyclone Shaheen thundering off the coast of Dubai. Fact: The video is in fact a rendering created by digital artist Brent Shavnore in 2019 using a still image captured in Miami, Florida in the United States. On 16 October 2021, a 24-second clip surfaced on […]
Claim: The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has changed its policy requiring women to adopt their husband’s names as surnames after marriage. Fact: Women were previously not required to change their surnames but it was a practice encouraged unofficially. Rather, under the previous policy, women had to include their husband’s name in a mandatory […]
Claim: People in Pakistan can get free petrol for their cars after the discovery of a grand, new petrol reserve in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Fact: The reserve was in fact discovered in July 2021 and the specifics of the discovery differ slightly from what is claimed in the news piece. On 30 September 2021, […]
Claim: Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry described Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, the late Pakistani nuclear scientist, as “fake,” a “joker,” and one of the “fake heroes” of Pakistan in 2012. Fact: Chaudhry did in fact tweet that Dr Qadeer was “fake,” a “joker,” and one of the “fake heroes” of Pakistan in 2012; however, the minister […]