Quote attributed to Ansar Abbasi about army chief and PM Shehbaz

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team investigated this content and determined that it is false.

To reach this conclusion, iVerify Pakistan conducted a keyword search to find the original source of the alleged quote.

Posts from multiple users on various social media platforms since April 22, 2025, shared a quote attributed to senior journalist Ansar Abbasi, claiming he said the army chief praised Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif as a reincarnation of Quaid-i-Azam. However, the journalist made no such remark.

HOW IT STARTED

The iVerify Pakistan team was alerted on April 23 regarding a post on X and was requested to authenticate the content.

On April 22, an X post by a user who, based on their past posts, appears to be a supporter of PTI attributed a quote to senior journalist Ansar Abbasi.

The caption of the post said, “The army chief has said that I have read many books on the life of Quaid-i-Azam. Looking at Shehbaz Sharif, it seems like it is the second birth of Quaid-i-Azam: Ansar Abbasi.”

The post gained significant traction, amassing over 94,000 views.

The same quote has been shared on X which can be seen here, here, here, and here.

The alleged quote was also shared on TikTok and Facebook.

The posts did not offer any other detail,s such as when or where the alleged quote was made.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its high virality, to satisfy the public’s request seeking authentication for the claim and keen interest in relations between the civil and military leadership.

A keyword search for the complete alleged quote to corroborate it yielded no article from any credible news outlets or video from any media outlet where Abbasi made such a statement.

Reviewing the journalist’s recent work led to a report published in English news outlet The News on April 22, 2025, titled: “The Shehbaz-Munir equation: a two-way affair”.

Describing the relationship between the current civilian and military establishments, Abbasi wrote that the latter, under Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir’s leadership, “not only trusts but actively supports” PM Shehbaz.

The journalist said that, described by a senior source as “the best”, the prime minister earned the military’s confidence through “strong performance, hard work, administrative discipline, cautious diplomacy, and a deep understanding of Pakistan’s power structure”.

It also mentioned that Gen Munir reportedly spoke highly of PM Shehbaz within military circles.

However, the report made no mention of the army chief comparing PM Shehbaz Sharif to Quaid-i-Azam or even any mention of the nation’s founder.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim that senior journalist Ansar Abbasi quoted the army chief as praising PM Shehbaz as the second coming of Quaid-i-Azam is false.

There is no evidence for the journalist making such a statement and his recent article on civil-military relations did not remotely mention any such thing.

Evidence and References

April 22, 2025, The News report:
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1303948-the-shehbaz-munir-equation-a-two-way-affair