Claim: Motorbikes have been banned in Karachi.
Fact: The claim is false and was spread by a news outlet using misleading language. Mayor Murtaza Wahab announced a transition from conventional to electric bikes only in the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC).
On 29 August 2025, Pakistani media outlet City21 posted (archive) a video showing Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab speaking to the media, alongside the following caption:
“کراچی میں موٹرسائیکل بند!
[Motorbikes banned in Karachi!]”
The clip includes two lines of text: the aforementioned phrase but with a question mark at the end and “میئر کراچی کا بڑا فیصلہ۔۔ [Big decision by Karachi Mayor..]”. It also features the word “banned” superimposed on a picture of motorbikes.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reviewed the video in question and observed that Mayor Wahab was talking about a new initiative under which the KMC would not buy any motorbikes that run on conventional fuel.
“I would like to announce here that no motorbikes running on conventional fuel would be bought by the KMC,” he said. “We will buy EV… electric… bikes from now so that, as responsible citizens, we are able to reduce our carbon footprint. We have built charging stations in the KMC building for people to charge [their bikes] so that they cannot make excuses like, ‘We were unable to charge because there was no electricity,’ and they would have an incentive to come to the office.”
“We have established these charging stations today and we can monitor them electronically, we have all databases available through which we can monitor all of these things. I believe this is a good initiative in the city of Karachi. The company, Crown [Group], I would like to congratulate them for starting this work in partnership with us,” he added.
There was no mention of motorbikes being banned in Karachi altogether.
The KMC also shared a video about the initiative. Waqas Sarbazi, who is a member of the Digital Media Cell of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), according to their Facebook bio, posted about the development as well.
We also came across a slightly longer version of the same press conference posted (archive) by the Facebook page ‘QoumiAwaz News’, accompanied by the following caption:
“کے ایم سی ملازمین میںموٹر سائیکلیں تقسیم کی جائیں گی،اب کوئی بھی پیٹرول بائیک کے ایم سی نہیں خریدے گی،میئر کراچی مرتضی وہاب
[Motorbikes will be distributed among KMC employees; KMC will not buy any petrol bike now, says Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab]”
In this version, Wahab said the decision to transition from conventional to electric motorcycles was taken to lower the organisation’s fuel expenses and its carbon footprint. Approximately 20 of these bikes have been purchased, he added, noting that two of them would be given to the KMC’s women employees.
The bikes, Wahab explained, were purchased at a negotiated price of PKR 215,000, as opposed to the PKR 240,000 in the market.
Again, we did not find any instance where the mayor said there was a ban on motorbikes in Karachi altogether.
Soch Fact Check, therefore, concludes that there is no ban on motorbikes in Karachi. The post being fact-checked seems to have used clickbait captions.
Virality
The video by City21 has been viewed over 2.2 million times so far. It was also reshared here.
Conclusion: The claim is false and the City21 deployed clickbait. Motorbikes have not been banned in Karachi. Mayor Murtaza Wahab announced a transition from conventional to electric bikes only in the KMC.
Background image in cover photo: Muhammad Wasif
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