Claim: A social media picture claims that it is an image of Major General Faisal Naseer, who serves as the Director General of Counter Intelligence at the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Fact: The claim is false. The man in the image is Lt. General Sardar Hassan Azhar Hayat, Corps Commander Peshawar; the image is falsely associated with General Naseer.
On 27 January 2023, a verified pro-PTI account on Twitter posted an image with an Urdu caption that, when translated into English, reads, “Major General Faisal Naseer known as Dirty Harry, Bajwa’s servant, traitor to the country and the most disgraced person who killed Arshad Sharif, tortured journalists, tried to assassinate Imran Khan and rigged the Karachi election!! This American slave should be cursed.”
Major General Faisal Naseer is the Director General of Counter Intelligence at the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). He was accused by former PM Imran Khan of being behind his attempted assassination in November 2022.
Fact or Fiction?
A reverse image search on Google showed that the image shows to Lt. General Sardar Hassan Azhar Hayat, not General Naseer.
Facebook page Pakistan Defence posted the same image on 8 August 2022. The image caption reads, “Lt. General Sardar Hassan Azhar Hayat has been appointed to command Pakistan Army’s 11th Corps, stationed in #Peshawar.”
Bol News also published the same image on 11 November 2022. The story reads, “Lieutenant General Sardar Hassan Azhar Hayat Khan is a three-star general who is currently serving as Commander of Corps XI in Peshawar. He was appointed and posted as Commander of Peshawar Corps in August 2022.”
Soch Fact Check further investigated and found a Twitter thread by The Khorasan Diary (a journalist-run research and analysis platform) published on 16 September 2022. The post shows another image of Lt. General Sardar Hassan Azhar Hayat Khan from a Jirga that was held last year in KP.
Virality
An organic search with relevant keywords on Facebook showed that the false claim was shared here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
On Twitter, Dr Fatima K – PTI’s post received 331.4k views, 14,800 likes and 6,414 retweets. It can also be seen here, here, here, here, and here.
Conclusion: The image of an Army officer being shared as that of Major General Faisal Naseer is false. The man in the picture is Lt. General Sardar Hassan Azhar Hayat.