On February 16, 2024, an image of a statement by the European Union on the general elections circulated on social media platforms and WhatsApp groups, suggesting that the EU had threatened to impose sanctions on Pakistan’s military chief and senior officials. However, no such claim was found in the official statement.
EU’s official statement about February 8 polls threatens army officials with sanctions
The iVerify Pakistan team has checked this content and has established that it is false.
To arrive at this verdict, the iVerify Pakistan team checked the official statement on the European Union website and ran the circulated image through an image manipulation detecting tool.
On February 16, 2024, an image of the statement by the European Union was circulated on social media platform X.
The X user, who appears to be a PTI supporter, highlighted the end paragraph of the statement and wrote in the caption: “Breaking: Statement of high representative on behalf of EU
‘It’s evident that the Pakistani populace has overwhelmingly supported PTI, indicating their victory. Failure to promptly announce genuine results may lead to sanctions on several army generals, including the Chief of Army Staff and his top 16 officers, along with members of PML-N, MQM, and other relevant parties, including Nawaz Sharif and his associates. Additionally, the Election Commission of Pakistan can expect severe repercussions from the European union and its allied nations.’”
The same image of the statement was forwarded many times on WhatsApp.
It is worth noting that when a message or an image is forwarded many times on WhatsApp, it indicates that the content has captured the interest of users organically, often leading to rapid dissemination and increased visibility.
The iVerify Pakistan team sought to investigate the claim due to its virality on WhatsApp as well as the nature of the remark made in the statement that directly addressed the senior officials and military chief regarding the Feb 8 polls.
In the first step of the investigation, the team ran the circulated image of the statement through the image manipulation detecting tool Fake Image Detector.
As per the results, the circulated image that has been shared on different WhatsApp groups appears to be Computer Generated or Modified.
The iVerify Pakistan team then checked the X account of European Union Pakistan and found a post providing clarification on the matter.
The same day when the fabricated image of the statement went viral, the Delegation of the European Union to Pakistan posted the official statement with the caption: “We are aware that a fake version of the EU statement on general elections is being circulated and misused. Here is a link to the correct statement.”
The EU’s original press release is titled: “Pakistan: Statement by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on the general elections”.
It has been published on the EU’s official website and shared through its authorised X account.
The statement ends with the following paragraph:
“Pakistan is an important partner for the European Union and we look forward to continuing to work with the Government of Pakistan on the priorities agreed in the EU-Pakistan Strategic Engagement Plan. We encourage Pakistan to continue reforms in the areas of human rights, good governance, as well as labour rights and environmental standards, to address the shortcomings outlined in the GSP+ report of November 2023, and to continue the necessary economic reforms”.
Subsequently, this statement was altered and appended by online users, adding the following paragraph:
“If irregularities exist in the election results, it is clear that the Pakistani public has overwhelmingly supported PTI, indicating their victory. Failure to promptly announce genuine results may result in sanctions on several army generals, including the chief of army staff and his top 16 officers, as well as members of the PML-N, MQM, and other relevant parties, including Nawaz Sharif and his associates. Additionally, the Election Commission of Pakistan could face severe repercussions from the European Union and its allied nations”.
It’s important to note that the genuine EU statement does not include the paragraph mentioned above.
Furthermore, the iVerify Pakistan team has observed that the end credentials in the fabricated image are different from the official statement.
The iVerify Pakistan team has determined that the viral image of the EU statement warning Pakistan’s senior officials and military chief is false.
The viral image of the EU statement was manipulated and the official X account of the European Union in Pakistan has also provided a clarification.
February 16, 2024 X post of European Union Pakistan:
https://twitter.com/EUPakistan/status/1758494453226975273?s=20
