Claim: Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar took a selfie inside the UNGA hall on his state trip to New York.
Fact: The selfie, while authentic, was taken in 2019 when Kakar was a senator. It’s unrelated to his tenure as caretaker prime minister.
On 20 September 2023, Facebook user ‘Sadiq Kakar’ posted a picture (archive) showing Pakistan’s interim prime minister, Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, taking a selfie at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) hall.
‘Sadiq Kakar’ wrote the following caption alongside the picture:
“خواتین و حضرات! پیش خدمت ہے مشہور “کومپنی” کا تیار شدہ آپ کا اپنا وزیراعظم جناب انوارالحق کاکڑ صاحب۔ قسمیں ایسی حرکت تو اقوام متحدہ کے ہیڈکوارٹر میں میں نے بھی نہیں کی تھی۔ کیا کمال کی سیلفی لی ہے۔۔ 😁😅😁
[Ladies and gentlemen! Presenting your own Prime Minister Mr. Anwar ul Haq Kakar prepared by the famous “company”. I swear, even I did not do such a thing at the United Nations headquarters. What a wonderful selfie it is.. 😁😅😁]”
Kakar, the caretaker premier, is currently in New York to attend the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, which continues from 18 September to 26 September. So far, he has participated in multiple meetings on the UNGA’s sidelines but is yet to make his first address.
The claim was also brought to the attention of Soch Fact Check by X (formerly Twitter) user @KhosoSaifullah, who wrote, “The picture you pasted of @anwaar_kakar is from 2019 when he was not the Prime Minister.”
@KhosoSaifullah was responding to @syedzaighum110, who tweeted (archive), “Both of their intentions are clear! On one hand, our Prime Minister taking a selfie in the UN Assembly Hall is sending a message to the world that he was also present in this parliament. On the other hand, the Prime Minister of Iran, holding the Quran in his hand, is protesting against the desecration of the Quran that is happening in Europe.”
Some social media users posted Kakar’s selfie in question alongside a picture of Iranian President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, who is seen holding up the Quran as he said, “The holy book beckons humanity towards rationality, spirituality, the truth and justice.”
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse-searched the image and found that Kakar himself posted it back in 2019 when he had accompanied the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief and the then-prime minister, Imran Khan, to the 74th UNGA session.
At the time, Khan had spoken for approximately 50 minutes on various topics, including his country’s relations with India, saying, “there will be a ‘bloodbath’ once India lifts its nearly two-month long curfew [at that time] in disputed Kashmir”.
Kakar — who posted the picture on X on 27 September 2019 when he was a senator — wrote (archive), “@ImranKhanPTI you made everyone proud, Pakistani rest of ummah and above all emerging as true statesman who desire peace & showed leadership that he will resist til last man if imposed war by any jingoistic RSS goon.”
@ImranKhanPTI you made everyone proud, Pakistani rest of ummah and above all emerging as true statesman who desire peace & showed leadership that he will resist til last man if imposed war by any jingoistic RSS goon pic.twitter.com/nfegZ5KFbK
— Anwaar ul Haq Kakar (@anwaar_kakar) September 27, 2019
His tweet has so far received close to 10,000 likes.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found that in some posts, such as here and here, users were comparing the behaviour of the Pakistani and Iranian leaders, saying:
“زیر نظر تصویر جس میں دو راہنماؤں کی ترجیحات دکھائی دی گئی جب آپ کی سوچ غلام والی ہو اور آپ کو کسی نے زبردستی ذاتی نوکری کیلئے سیٹ پر بٹھایا ہو تو پھر آپ اقوام متحدہ کی جنرل اسمبلی میں جاکر اپنے ملک کا مقدمہ نہیں لڑیں گے آپ کیلئے یہی اعزاز ہے کہ آپ نے وہاں جاکر اپنی سیلفی بنائی تاکہ آپ کے خاندان میں یاد رکھا جائے کہ آپ نے بھی جنرل اسمبلی میں شرکت کی تھی
[The picture below shows the priorities of two leaders; when you are slave-minded and are forced to sit on the seat for a personal job, then you will not fight for your country when you go to the United Nations General Assembly. That you were able to go there and take a selfie is an honour in itself for you so that your family will remember you also attended the General Assembly.]”
We also found that the claim appeared here, here, here, here, and here on Facebook, here, here, here, and here on X, and here on TikTok.
In fact, even some news outlets published the image here, here, here, and here.
Conclusion: The selfie, while authentic, was taken in 2019 when Kakar was a senator. It’s unrelated to his tenure as caretaker prime minister.
Correction: A previous version of this article rated the claim as false rather than misleading.
Background image in cover photo: @unitednations
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