CM Gandapur says Imran Khan ready to apologise for May 9 incidents

Rating Justification

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

To reach this conclusion, the iVerify Pakistan team examined Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur’s complete media talk outside Adiala Jail after meeting with PTI founder Imran Khan.

The PML-N on August 3, 2024, shared a news alert on social media platform X saying that CM Gandapur said Imran was ready to apologise for the events on May 9, 2023. However, the headline was incomplete and the actual news report said no such thing.

May 9, 2023, holds significant importance in the country’s political landscape, as it was on this day when military installations were attacked following Imran’s arrest from the Islamabad High Court’s premises, which formed the basis of a severe state crackdown against him and his party.

O May 7, 2024, the military spokesperson ruled out dialogue with PTI unless the party leadership tendered a public apology over the May 9 protests. Imran repeatedly said he had no reason to apologise.

However, in the last few weeks of July 2024, Imran repeatedly expressed his willingness to talk to the army and not with the government.

HOW IT STARTED

On August 3, the PML-N shared on social media platform X a news alert by Dunya News titled: “Imran Khan ready to apologise for May 9 incidents: Ali Amin Gandapur”.

The caption for the post said: “Youthias and sellout journalists: Kaptaan is firm, he won’t give up. While Kaptaan” pointing icons towards the news report.

The post garnered 64,000 views.

METHODOLOGY

A fact check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality, the public’s keen interest in Imran’s stance over the May 9 riots with his adamant refusal that the PTI had no role in the events and also because many users pointed out in the comments that the headline of the article shared by the PML-N was incomplete.

An examination of the August 3 Dunya News article indeed showed that its complete headline was: “Imran Khan is ready to apologise if fault is proven in May 9 incidents: Ali Amin”.

According to the report, the chief minister said Imran was concerned about the situation in the country.

“The PTI founder said that our mandate was taken away. If [blame for] the events of May 9 is proven, we are ready to apologise, but if your mistakes are proven, you will have to apologise,” the article said.

Furthermore, an examination of CM Gandapur’s August 3 media talk also showed that he said nothing of the sort about Imran’s stance regarding the events of May 9 as implied by the PML-N in its share of the Dunya News social media alert.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: MISLEADING

The claim regarding KP CM Gandapur saying that Imran has said he is ready to apologise for the May 9 riots is misleading.

Dunya News‘ social media share of its news report does not share the complete headline and thus presents a misleading picture which has the potential to misguide the public.

Furthermore, the PML-N being the party that forms the government, should have also checked and verified the complete headline before sharing misleading material against its political opponents since it has greater responsibility due to being in power.

The KP chief minister did not say that Imran is ready to apologise for the May 9 events, instead, he said that Imran conditioned the apology on whether the PTI’s alleged blame and fault were proven, otherwise, the party’s opponents would have to apologise.

Evidence and References

KP CM Gandapur August 3, 2024, media talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7gzrMrE88o