Claim: Maryam Nawaz Sharif recently said in an interview that it is time for Imran Khan to be erased.
Fact: A snippet of an old interview of Maryam Nawaz Sharif was taken out of context to imply that she believes that it is time Imran Khan to be “erased”. The complete sentence is: “Zulm jab hadh se barh jata hai tou mit jata hai, uske mitney ka time agaya hai.” [ When oppression goes beyond limits it must end, now it is time for it to end.]
On 28 March 2023, Siasat.pk shared a 3-second clip of Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Twitter with the caption “اس کے مٹنے کا ٹائم آ گیا ہے” – مریم نواز” [“The time has come for it to disappear” – Maryam Nawaz]
Fact or Fiction?
We put keyframes from the clip through Google Reverse Image Search, and found that this video was first posted on 28 June 2018.
The 34-second clip shows Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s complete answer to a Geo News journalist, where she says, “I think the way they are oppressing members of the PMLN one by one, why don’t they just admit that they can see the PMLN winning and that they can not let this happen. So why don’t they just remove all of PMLN from the race altogether. I think this will be best” [Original transcript, “Mera tou khayal hai yeh jo ek ek kr kay PMLN k sath ziadti krhe hain, aur ek ek kr k jo disqualify krhay hain, ek hi dafa kiun nahi keh detay k hamein PMLN jeeti nazar arhi hai, hum usko jeetna nahi dena chahtay. Tou hum poori PMLN ko ek hi dafa race se bahar krtay hain. I think yehi behtar hoga.”] She further adds, “When oppression goes beyond limits it must end, now it is time for it to end”. [Original transcript: Dekhein zulm jab hadh se barh jata hai tou mit jata hai, uske mitney ka time agaya hai.”]
In the full video, it is evident that the statement was not intended as an attack on Imran Khan in the current political situaion. Maryam Nawaz Sharif made the comment in reference to the persecution she believed her party, the Pakistan Muslim League N (PMLN), was facing from the PTI government in 2018.
Virality
This tweet was viewed 380,800 times on Twitter. This tweet was shared with 4,513,454 followers and the total number of interactions received by this tweet reached 30,541 interactions.
We found that this clip was also shared on Facebook here, here, here, and here.
Conclusion: Maryam Nawaz Sharif did not say it is time for Imran Khan to be erased. An old interview from 2018 was misleadingly shared recently without context.