False statement about Zartaj Gul attributed to Peshawar High Court CJ
He did not offer his house as a refuge to Zartaj Gul
Claim: A screenshot of an Urdu Point’s social media post states that Peshawar High Court’s Chief Justice, Mohammad Ibrahim Khan offered politician Zartaj Gul to stay at his house if she fears arrest.
Fact: The screenshot is doctored. The judge did not make any such statement.
Fact or Fiction?
On 4 January 2024, journalist Najam Wali Khan (@najamwalikhan) posted a graphic on X (formerly Twitter) claiming that the Peshawar High Court’s Chief Justice, Mohammad Ibrahim Khan offered that politician Zartaj Gul can stay at his house if she fears arrest.
The text juxtaposed on the graphic reads as follows:
“سر آپ ضمانت دے بھی دینگے تو یہ مجھے پھر گرفتار کر لیں گے ۔ زرتاج گل
اگر آپ کو گرفتاری کا خدشہ ہے تو آپ رات میرے گھر گزار لیں ۔چیف جسٹس
Sir, even if you give bail, they will arrest me again, Zartaj Gul
If you are afraid of arrest, you should spend the night at my house, Chief Justice”
Soch Fact Check found the claim to be false. We searched UrduPoint News’ page on Facebook and couldn’t find reports on any such statements made by the judge.
However, we found a post shared on 3 January at 10.42 pm by UrduPoint News in which the following statement has been attributed to the judge:
“کسی کو رات 2 بجے بھی میری ضرورت پڑی تو عدالت پہنچوں گا
[If someone needs me even at 2 am in the night, I will reach the court]”
Soch Fact Check ascertains that this post was edited to attribute the viral statement to the judge. A comparison graphic below shows that while the image and the design used are identical, the fonts are different.
To investigate further, we searched the viral statement on Google and could not find any reports by credible media outlets.
However, UrduPoint News shared two other posts about Zartaj Gul’s appearance in the court and the hearing, here and here both of which do not report a statement by the chief justice where he offers refuge to Gul in his house.
According to Dawn Urdu’s report, judge Ibrahim Khan remarked that if he is unable to deliver justice, he should resign. Continuing his statement, Khan questioned if Zartaj Gul would spend the whole night at court if he did not arrive on time, and not that she could take refuge in his house at night if she fears arrest.
As per a report by Dawn, the Peshawar High Court granted protective bail to the PTI member in multiple cases registered against her in different cities, and directed the local police not to arrest her, instead advising her to approach the relevant court.
According to the same report, Chief Justice Mohammad Ibrahim Khan returned to the high court around 9.10 pm from Islamabad. He ordered the Peshawar capital city police officer and senior superintendent of police (operation) to appear before the bench. Fearing arrest, Gul took shelter in the bar room while there was a large police presence outside the court premises, the report adds.
The report also stated that the politician’s petition couldn’t be heard initially because it was filed after the court’s regular hours had ended.
PTI leaders are facing legal action since the 9 May unrest. There have been dozens of arrests and rearrests of prominent leaders of the party on charges of inciting terrorism, arson, and public disorder.
Virality:
The claim was posted here, here and here on X.
The tweet by X user @najamwalikhan gained significant traction with 82,100 views, 82 likes and 506 reposts.
It was also shared here, here, here and here on Facebook.
Conclusion: A false statement has been attributed to Peshawar High Court’s Chief Justice Mohammad Ibrahim Khan who in fact did not offer that PTI’s Zartaj Gul could stay at his house if she fears arrest.
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