Claim: Ansar Abbasi said the hike in petrol prices is a great decision and the public will now perform religious prayers instead of roaming in markets. Fact: The claim originated from a satirical tweet, which was eventually disseminated as real news. On 16 April 2023, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) member Shehbaz Gill retweeted a statement attributed […]
Claim: Addressing a crowd at Zaman Park, Imran Khan said he would never take a loan when he becomes prime minister. Fact: Imran Khan did not say that he will never take a loan when he becomes prime minister during the 21st iftar Zaman Park address. On 12 April 2023, Neo News published an article […]
Claim: A video shows a mob of people brutally beating three men from the Shiite Muslim sect and claiming that a war has been declared against the Shiite community in Charsadda. Fact: The video, in fact, depicts people beating up three men who were allegedly part of a group that robbed a jewellery shop in […]
Claim: A video shows supporters of Imran Khan protesting against the Pakistan Army. Fact: The clip is unrelated to Pakistan. It actually shows a pro-democracy protest held in Mexico City, Mexico, in February 2023. On 1 March 2023, Facebook user ‘सनातनी हिंदू’ posted a video (archive) claiming it showed supporters of former prime minister and […]
Claim: A visual shows pictures of three different PTI workers allegedly injured during clashes with the police in Lahore on 8 March 2023. Fact: The picture in the centre is from 2014 and is unrelated to the PTI, while the other two photos are, in fact, of the same individual but from different times and […]
Claim: A video shows the private jail of Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran, where the Barkhan murder victims were kept. Fact: The clip has no relation to Sardar Khetran, Balochistan or the Barkhan tragedy. It was first uploaded to TikTok on 14 February 2023 by @urbexkev, who confirmed to Soch Fact Check that it shows tunnels […]
Claim: A video shows Sahar Bandial, the daughter of Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, dancing with a group of young women. Fact: The video does not show Sahar Bandial, who confirmed to Soch Fact Check that she is not any of the women in the viral clip. On 1 April 2023, Facebook page ‘چوہدری زمان […]
Claim: Peshawar’s Islamia College University lecturer Dr Bashir Ahmad was killed over a blasphemy allegation. Fact: The claim is false, as confirmed by Islamia College University’s provost and a journalist from Peshawar. On 19 February 2023, Twitter account @DayWithNews posted a tweet (archive) claiming that Dr Bashir Ahmad, a lecturer at the Department of English […]
Claim: A video shows a group of police officers in Lahore in a verbal altercation with women belonging to the PTI, with one of the cops yelling, “Don’t touch me”, and another pushing a woman. The clip goes on to show police baton-charging people near a container and behind barbed wire at the scene. Fact: […]
Claim: A photo shows a giant crack in a road in Swat’s Shangla region after a 6.5-magnitude earthquake hit northwestern areas of Pakistan on 21 March 2023. Fact: The image is more than four years old and has nothing to do with the March 2023 earthquake. On 21 March 2023, Twitter user @Alitanveer597 tweeted a […]
Claim: Lahore Police have arrested a minor boy for “dressing up as a girl and begging”. Fact: The child has not been arrested but handed over to the Child Protection & Welfare Bureau (CP&WB). On 30 January 2023, Express News Urdu published a news story titled, “معذور والدین کی دیکھ بھال کیلیے لڑکی بن کر […]
Claim: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked in an interview, “What is the biggest problem facing the next generation and what should we do to solve it today?”. He responded by saying the main goal is to stop militant Islamic regimes from getting nuclear weapons and that Pakistan is one of the two countries […]