Half of Pakistan will not experience snowfall in January 2024

Claim: Maulana Fazl ur Rahman claimed that half of Pakistan will be facing snowfall if elections are held in January 2024. 

Fact: The JUI-F politician’s statement is not true as half of Pakistan will not experience snowfall at the time of the elections. Moreover, most of the areas he listed himself will not face snowfall, according to the weather reports. 

On 10 October 2023, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) official Instagram page uploaded a screenshot (archived) of an ARY News bulletin which claims that Maulana Fazl ur Rahman, while discussing the elections, noted that half the country will be facing snowfall at the end of January which could impede their vote.

Fact or Fiction?

ARY News published Fazl ur Rahman’s complete statement on their YouTube channel. 

In this video, published on 11 October 2023, at the 14:58 mark, Maulana Fazl ur Rahman says, “Elections tou hongay hi hongay, lekin agar menay sirf itni si baat ki hai, agar January ke akhir mein hongay tou aadhay mulk mein tou baraf bari hogi jahan abadi hi nahi hai. Ap Khuzdar se lelein, poora Balochistan, pher ap Waziristan se lelein Chitral tak, pher wahan se lelein ap poora Swat, Kohistan, Abbottabad, Murree tak. Yeh saray ilaqay woh hain jahan abadi nahi hoti in dinon mein, log utar atay hain apnay ilaqon sey, aur wahan baraf hoti hai, tou kia yeh log vote ka haq nahi rakheingay?” 

[Translation: The elections will definitely happen but all I am saying is that if they happen at the end of January, half the country will be facing snowfall, at a time when there is no population (to participate in the election). Take Khuzdar for example, from there the whole of Balochistan, then from Waziristan to Chitral, and onwards to Swat, Kohistan, Abbottabad, and Murree; these areas are thinly populated during this time of the year as people migrate to the south due to the harsh weather conditions in the winter, so will these people then lose their right to vote?]

Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf’s official Instagram page shared the image of the bulletin, which summarized this statement, with the caption: “People of Pakistan have already been denied their fundamental right to vote on 14th May, now excuses from PDM are being made for another postponement. They ran away in the summer, they’re trying to run in winters. Why so much fear?” 

To gauge the veracity of his statement, Soch Fact Check looked at weather reports from Swat, Khuzdar, Kohistan, Abbottabad, Waziristan, Chitral, Murree, and the entire province of Balochistan. We looked at the time period of 21 January to 31 January which could classify as the last few days of the month. The data from AccuWeather’s website is of this time period from the past 2 years and the predictions for 2024. 

Soch Fact Check looked at the weather data on AccuWeather’s website, which reveals that out of the areas mentioned by Fazl ur Rahman, only Chitral and Waziristan are forecasted to face snowfall at the end of January. 

This means that Maulana Fazl ur Rahman’s statement falsely claimed that half the country will be facing snowfall when in fact, only 2 out of the 8 regions mentioned by him are predicted to experience snowfall.

Virality

PTI’s Instagram post gathered more than 9,400 interactions. ARY News also published a video on YouTube which was viewed 3,700 times.

Conclusion: Maulana Fazl ur Rahman said that half of the country would face snowfall in January 2024, referring to particular areas. However, his statement was false. 

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