TTP congratulates Ali Amin Gandapur on his nomination as KP CM

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team has checked this content and has established that it is false.

To arrive at this verdict, the iVerify Pakistan team corroborated the viral letter with the banned militant Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) outfit.

HOW IT STARTED

On February 13, 2024, a picture of an alleged TTP letter congratulating PTI leader Ali Amin Gandapur on his nomination as the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister was shared by a user, who appeared to be a PML-N supporter based on his past posts, on social media platform X.

The caption said: “Pakistan Tehreek-e-Taliban welcomes a man implicated in the despicable act of parading naked an orphan girl as a chief minister nominee by Imran Khan in a province neighbouring Kabul. This betrayal of justice underscores the urgent need to prioritise the protection and rights of vulnerable girls.”

The post gained over 85,000 views.

The same picture was shared by a regional PPP official with the caption, “TTP’s letter to congratulate Ali Amin Gandapur on being nominated as CM KPK by the political wing of Taliban, with the hope they will get relief and help from KPK Govt to fulfill their desires.”

The same claim was shared here and here.

METHODOLOGY

The iVerify Pakistan team sought to determine the veracity of the claim due to its high virality and dangerous nature of associating a politician with a banned militant outfit.

To investigate the circulated letter, the iVerify Pakistan team contacted Dawn reporter Tahir Khan who reached out to the TTP for corroboration.

TTP spokesperson Muhammad Khurasani denied the letter’s authenticity and said it was fake.

He also forwarded an image with the letter branded as fake by the outfit. Another spokesperson also confirmed the same to the reporter.

For further verification, the team contacted Abdul Sayed, a Sweden-based researcher who tracks the TTP.

Sayed said the letter was “clearly fake for at least two reasons: TTP’s announcements are typically distributed through its official social media channels, but no such statement has been found there.

“Additionally, the writing and structure of this statement does not match that of TTP’s formal announcements.”

Lastly, Fake Image Detector, a tool that detects image manipulation, also flagged the viral letter as “computer generated or modified image”.

Ali Amin Gandapur

Gandapur contested the elections as a PTI-backed independent candidate from NA-44 and PK-133 constituencies of KP’s Dera Ismail Khan and won both.

He was nominated as KP’s chief minister by the PTI on Feb 13.

Gandapur was the federal minister for Kashmir affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan from October 5, 2018, to April 10, 2022. He was also a member of the National Assembly from August 2018 until January 2023.

CONCLUSION

The iVerify Pakistan team has determined that the viral letter of the TTP allegedly congratulating Gandapur is false.

The outfit itself and an independent expert both corroborated that the TTP did not issue any such letter.

Evidence and References