Claim: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur has tweeted declaring a general amnesty, forgiving all public and private officers who supported oppression against the PTI.
Fact: The politician did not give any such statement. The viral tweet was posted by a fake account, @Ali_Amin_khan, impersonating Gandapur. His official account is @AliAminKhanPTI.
In March, a viral Whatsapp photo was sent to Soch Fact Check, marked as “forwarded”. It features a screenshot of a post from the X (formerly Twitter) account Ali Amin Gandapur (@Ali_Amin_khan) from 29 February 2024. The post states that the newly appointed chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Ali Amin Gandapur, announced general amnesty for all those individuals who aided oppression against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) supporters during their tenure.
The tweet reads,
“تمام سرکاری و نجی افسران کو ڈرنے کی ضرورت نہیں ہے۔ جنھوں نے ظلم و جبر میں ظالموں کا ساتھ دیا سب کیلئے میں عام معافی کا اعلان کرتا ہوں۔ انشاء اللہ صحت کارڈ اور باقی معاملات چند روز میں آپکے سامنے رکھیں گے۔
[All public and private officers need not fear. I announce a general amnesty for all those who supported the oppressors in oppression. Inshallah, health card and other matters will be placed in front of you in a few days.]”
Ali Amin Gandapur
A prominent Pakistani politician, Gandapur was elected as the 22nd chief minister of KP on 1 March 2024. He served as the Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan from 5 October 2018 to 10 April 2022. Prior to this, he was a member of KP’s Provincial Assembly from 2013 to 2018, during which he held the position of Provincial Minister for Revenue.
Hailing from a politically active Pashtun family in Dera Ismail Khan, Gandapur’s father, Major (retd) Aminullah Gandapur, also had a notable political career. Sardar Faisal Amin Khan Gandapur, his brother, is also actively involved in politics.
Gandapur’s early schooling took place in Dera Ismail Khan, and he later pursued his BA (honours) from Gomal University.
He entered politics through the PTI and contested successfully, winning both the provincial and national seats in the 2024 elections.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check found that the account responsible for the viral tweet is impersonating Gandapur. His real Twitter account is @AliAminKhanPTI. Additionally, on 24 March, he tweeted, “I have my account back finally.”
We also ascertained that the screenshot of the tweet circulating online contains errors, including the date format displaying as “29 Feb 24” instead of the usual format of X, which should state “Feb 29, 2024”. Furthermore, the number of likes are displayed next to retweets in the second line, which deviates from the platform’s standard format, and the absence of the number of views as well as the bookmark icon in the tweet implies the image was also possibly manipulated. Additionally, the icons appear in the incorrect order, displaying as comments, reposts, and likes instead of X’s following the new format; reposts, quotes, likes and bookmarks. Moreover, the viral tweet incorrectly uses the word “retweets”, whereas X’s new format uses “reposts”.
Azhar Mashwani, PTI social media activist, confirmed to Soch Fact Check that the viral statement is being falsely attributed to Gandapur and that he did not say anything like that.
However, Soch Fact Check did find a clip of Gandapur where he makes a similar statement on possibly offering an amnesty to the officers. In the clip, he can be heard expressing his disapproval of using his position as KP’s chief minister to satisfy his ego when asked about forgiving government officials who oppressed PTI supporters. He emphasised the need to create a fair system to prevent injustices against political workers and supporters, given his own experience of political victimisation, and urged his workers to adopt a forgiving mindset similar to the post-conquest of Makkah era. Most importantly, Gandapur stressed the importance of self-correction and mentioned the possibility of forgiving officers if they acknowledge their mistakes. However, the statements made by Gandapur in this instance are not linked to the statement being attributed to him in the viral text message, as the latter comes from a fake account.
Virality:
The claim can be found here.
Conclusion: Contrary to the viral claim, Ali Amin Gandapur did not declare a general amnesty in a tweet, forgiving officers who supported oppression against the PTI. In fact, the tweet is from a fake account impersonating Gandapur.
Backrground image in cover photo: AliAminKhanGandapurPti
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