Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Claim
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announces country’s own CAA, which looks to grant citizenship to Indian Muslims who feel persecuted.
Fact
No such notification, viral tweet found to be fabricated.
Less than a month before the Lok Sabha elections, the Union government implemented the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA, four years after the controversial law was passed. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, seeks to grant Indian citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who arrived in India on or before December 31, 2014, specifically fleeing from religious persecution in their home countries.
Amid the furore on social media over the “discriminatory” and “divisive” law, several users are sharing a screenshot of a purported tweet by newly sworn-in Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, saying that his government has decided to notify Pakistan’s own CAA, in which Indian Muslims who feel persecuted can seek citizenship of Pakistan.
The archived versions of the tweets can be seen here and here.
Fact Check
Newschecker first ran a keyword search for “CAA Pakistan citizenship act”, which did not throw up any credible news reports of such a notification, raising our doubts.
We then looked up the official Twitter account of Shehbaz Sharif, where we saw that his latest tweet was on March 10 and that there was no post on March 11, when the implementation of India’s CAA was announced.
The analytics tool, Social Blade, too, showed that no tweet was made after March 10 till the time this copy was published, confirming that the viral screenshot was fake.
Also Read: Video Of Crowded Marketplace In Pakistan Falsely Claimed As UK’s Bradford
Conclusion
Viral screenshot of tweet by Pakistan’s Prime Minister announcing their CAA found to be fabricated.
Result: False
Source
Shehbaz Sharif’s Twitter account
Social Blade analysis
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
