Claim: Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif has publicly endorsed a “soft intervention” in the country by the Pakistan Army and has said that if a soft intervention can lead to any sort of benefit to the country, then he is ready to accept it. Fact: Capital TV spread a false headline claiming that Prime […]
Claim: Journalist Imran Riaz Khan is collecting donations online to help disabled people in Pakistan. Fact: Imran Riaz Khan’s Twitter account was hacked and a PayPal scam was shared through a tweet. The journalist uploaded a video warning people not to interact with his account or make any donations. On 30 July 2022, journalist Imran […]
Claim: A viral video shows people celebrating in Sialkot after the Pakistan Supreme Court announced on 26 July 2022 that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Pervez Elahi would be the new Chief Minister of Punjab. Fact: The video surfaced on social media in January 2022 and depicts new year celebrations in Sialkot. The video is not […]
Claim: An image shared on social media on 14 July 2022 shows a huge crowd at a rally held by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Multan, Punjab, where party chief and former Prime Minister Imran Khan addressed his supporters. A poster with an image of Khan, former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, and Shah Mehmood […]
Claim: Former Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan wrote a tweet asking former Prime Minister Imran Khan to call for public protests if it appears that local elections are being rigged to stop people voting for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Fact: The account responsible for the tweet appears to be impersonating Nisar. No such tweet […]
Claim: Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif has announced his resignation and will be dissolving the country’s assemblies. Fact: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has made no such announcement. On 18 and 19 January 2022, several pages shared videos on Facebook with different variations of the caption, “شہباز شریف نے نئے الیکشن کی تاریخ دیدی اور […]
Claim: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) won the recent by-election in Swat by defeating a “13-party coalition of PDM [Pakistan Democratic Movement] single handedly”. Fact: There were four candidates in the Swat by-election, including one each from the PTI, the Awami National Party (ANP), and the Tehreek-e-Inqelab Political Movement (TiPM), as well as an independent. The […]
Claim: In a viral video, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif can be heard calling for protest against his own government. Fact: Sharif’s 27 March address to his followers in the context of the Mehngai Mukao March was doctored to make it seem like the PM criticised his own government. On 18 and 19 June 2022, a […]
Claim: Official PTI handles, digital media outlets, and think tanks have uploaded congratulatory messages to their social media pages claiming Pakistan has been removed from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list. Grey list-designated countries are those which are required to make commitments to take stronger measures against the financing of criminal activities such […]
Claim: A video shows Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi while Khan was in power. Fact: The video in question is from December 2015 when Khan and Modi met in Delhi. Khan was not Pakistan’s prime minister at the time. Fact or Fiction? On 5 June 2022, Facebook user […]
Claim: In a video posted to his official Facebook account, Former Prime Minister Imran Khan can be seen holding up a banner with a picture of a man, who Khan claims in the video was killed during the 2022 Long March in Islamabad. Khan can be heard blaming the man’s death on federal interior minister […]
Claim: A photo depicts a pile of tear gas shells used by police against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s supporters during the Long March led by Imran Khan on 25 May 2022. Fact: The photo is actually from a protest held in 2014. Fact or Fiction? On 26 May 2022, journalist Imran Riaz Khan shared a photo of […]