Ijazul Haq did not say army chief sent message to Imran to ‘spare me’; viral clip is incomplete

The iVerify Pakistan team has reviewed this content and determined that it is misleading.

To reach this conclusion, the iVerify Pakistan team sourced and reviewed the full interview on August 9, 2024, from where the clip was cut.

A clip from an interview of PML-Z president Ijazul Haq on August 9, 2024, was shared with a quote and duration that showed him saying that the army chief sent a message to PTI founder Imran Khan to “spare me”. The clip was misleading as it was incomplete and did not show the politician’s full response.

Imran and the PTI have been quite critical of the army chief and the military recently, especially in the wake of the arrest of party spokesperson Raoof Hasan and other social media activists over allegations of ‘digital terrorism’.

Meanwhile, the army has said that those involved in the violent protests on May 9, 2023, need to regret their acts with sincerity, render a public apology and shun the “politics of anarchy and hate” before any talks can be initiated with them.

Imran has offered to apologise for the May 9 riots, provided the involvement of PTI supporters in the violent protests is proved, while at the same time also demanding an apology from those behind his arrest.

HOW IT STARTED

On August 9, 2024, an account, which appeared to be supportive of the PTI based on its past posts, shared a 16-second video clip on social media platform X of Haq saying, “Asim Munir sent a message to Imran Khan in jail that ‘you trial the DG ISI, DGC and Bajwa under Article 6 but spare my life.’”

The caption for the post reiterated the same.

Article 6 of the Constitution says: “Any person who abrogates or subverts or suspends or hold in abeyance, or attempts or conspires to abrogate or subvert or suspend or hold in abeyance the Constitution by use of force or show force or by any other unconstitutional means shall be guilty of high treason.”

The punishment for high treason is death or lifetime imprisonment, according to the High Treason (Punishment) Act, 1973.

The post amassed over 328,000 views and offered no other details such as where and when the clip was from.

On the same day, another pro-PTI account shared the same clip with the same caption, gaining over 20,000 views.

The clip was also shared by other users as can be seen here and here.

METHODOLOGY

A fact check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality and the serious nature of the claim regarding the military chief and the PTI founder, both of whom command great public interest in their activities.

Checking whether Haq himself addressed the controversy yielded an August 10 X post saying: “My interview was circulated/viral 100 per cent out of context. Please listen to what was actually said and see how social media is creating misunderstanding.”

The lawmaker shared a two-minute clip from his August 9 podcast interview with Waheed Hussain.

Examining the clip showed that the politician was misquoted in the viral clip and his remark in the snippet circulating was incomplete. In actuality, the politician was quoting someone else and said they had shared the alleged news of the exchange between the army chief and PTI founder.

Haq identified the person who originally made the claim about the alleged message from the army chief as Haider Mehdi.

Mehdi is a former military officer who was handed a 12-year jail sentence following his Field General Court Martial for “inciting sedition”, according to a Dawn.com report dated November 25, 2023.

Mehdi made the claim in a July 20, 2024, video uploaded to his YouTube channel. The claim can be heard beginning at the 17:20-minute mark.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: MISLEADING

The claim regarding a video clip of PML-Z Ijazul Haq alleging that a secret message was sent from the army chief to Imran in jail is misleading.

The viral clip is incomplete and does not show the full context of the politician’s remark. Instead of making the claim himself, he was merely quoting someone else and proceeded to criticise the alleged development as well and questioned the need for such material to be uttered publicly.

The viral clip has the potential to misguide the public by making it think the politician said and claimed something serious that he actually did not at all. This could lead to a further deterioration of the country’s already tense political environment, particularly on social media.