On May 24, 2024, a sports journalist posted on X that it was shameful and condemnable if the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government awarded cash to hockey players only from KP. However, the KP government awarded the cash based on merit and performance.
KP government gives cash prizes to hockey squad players hailing only from KP
The iVerify Pakistan team has checked this content and established that it is misleading.
To arrive at this verdict, the team checked the official X account of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.
The iVerify Pakistan team was alerted by the public to a May 24, 2024, X post by sports journalist Shoaib Jatt with the caption, “If the news is true that [KP Chief Minister Ali Amin] Gandapur has given cash prizes to hockey players only from KPK while ignoring the rest, then it is certainly sad, shameful and condemnable.”
The post was seen by over 45,000 viewers.
The iVerify Pakistan sought to determine the veracity of the claim to satisfy the public’s query for clarification on the matter since the post involved the hockey team which has seen a recent revival in popularity and audience interest.
To investigate the claim, the iVerify team checked the official X account of the KP government to see if it had issued anything regarding the cash awards.
The team found a May 22 post on the official account which showed CM Gandapur handing over a Rs2 million cheque to Sufyan Khan.
The caption said, “Chief Minister of KPK, Sardar Ali Amin Gandapur, handed over a cheque of Rs2m to the national player Sufyan at the Chief Minister’s House for his overall outstanding performance in the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament, where he was awarded the title of Man of the Tournament.”
The team found another post on the same account stating, “Adviser to Chief Minister KPK on Sports and Youth Affairs Fakhar Jehan under the direction of Chief Minister KPK Sardar Ali Amin Gandapur, handed over a cheque of Rs1m to Zakaria Hayat, who scored the first goal in the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament.”
The same posts were reposted by the official X account of the sports adviser who said Sufyan Khan hailed from Bannu while Zakaria Hayat hailed from Mardan.
On May 11, the final of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup was played in Ipoh, Malaysia, between Japan and Pakistan, where Japan defeated Pakistan with a 4-1 win in the penalty shootout. Despite several challenges, the Pakistan team was till then undefeated throughout the tournament.
The iVerify Pakistan team has determined that the claim regarding the KP government discriminating in giving cash prizes to hockey players based on their belonging to the province is misleading.
Sufyan Khan and Zakaria Hayat both hail from KP’s regions but that is not the reason why they were awarded the cash prizes. The former was awarded for being the Man of the Tournament while the latter was awarded for scoring the tournament’s first goal.
KP government May 22, 2024, X post:
https://x.com/GovernmentKP/status/1793309391065923915
KP government May 23, 2024, X post:
https://x.com/GovernmentKP/status/1793635106990748102
