Claim: A video on social media shows APTMA patron-in-chief Dr Gohar Ejaz asking Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to help and save the textile industry.
Fact: The claim is false because the video is not from 2023. The video was shared as early as 2017 and has been making rounds on social media ever since.
On 1 April 2023, the Former Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and member of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) posted a video on Twitter. The Urdu caption of the video reads,
فیصل آباد قبرستان بن گیا ہے لاہور بھی قبرستان بن گیا ہے ہر شہر میں ٹیکسٹائل کا قبرستان بن گیا ہے ہر آدمی سسک رہا ہے میری آپ سے ہاتھ جوڑ کر التجاء ہے خدا کے لیے ہماری مدد کر دیں۔
چیئرمین اپٹما گوہر اعجاز سرکاری اجلاس میں وزیر خالی خزانہ اسحاق ڈار سے التجاء کرتے ہوئے۔
[Translation: Faisalabad has become a graveyard, Lahore has also become a graveyard, textiles have become a graveyard in every city, every man is weeping. I am begging you to help us for God’s sake.
Chairman Aptama Gohar Ejaz pleaded with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in the official meeting.]
All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) is an association for the textile industry in Pakistan, representing over 400 textile mills working in the country.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check conducted a reverse image search on the video keyframes. The results turned up the same video published in a Facebook post on 20 July 2017. The video caption reads, “APTMA Chairman begging Ishaq Dar to save Textile Industry.”
However, Soch Fact Check could not independently verify where the video was originally shot and in which year.
Soch Fact Check previously debunked a claim regarding the closure of textile industry in the country.
Virality
The false video on Twitter received 278.4k views, 7,000 retweets, and 13,400 likes. It can also be seen here, here, and here.
On Facebook, the video was shared here, here, here, here, and here between 31 March – 6 April 2023.
Conclusion: The video showing the APTMA chief asking Ishaq Dar to help the textile industry is not from 2023. The old video resurfaced with a false claim.