Quote about Omer Sarfaraz Cheema’s ill health attributed to Hammad Azhar

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team investigated the claim and determined that it is false.

To reach this conclusion, the iVerify Pakistan team reviewed the official social media accounts of both Omer Sarfaraz Cheema and Hammad Azhar to see if they had made any such claims.

Multiple posts from users on social media platform X on October 21, 2024, attributed a quote to PTI leader Hammad Azhar regarding a decline in the health of jailed former Punjab governor Omer Sarfaraz Cheema. However, the quote attributed to Azhar is fake.

Cheema is a founding PTI member and former Punjab governor. He has been incarcerated in Lahore prison since 2023 due to his alleged involvement in the May 9 riots last year.

HOW IT STARTED

On October 21, 2024, an X user, who appeared to be a PTI supporter based on their past posts, shared a post claiming: “Breaking news! Omer Sarfaraz Cheema is taking his last breaths in the jail hospital. (Hammad Azhar)”.

Nearly 100,000 people viewed the post.

Similarly, a fan account for PTI lawyer Naeem Bukhari also shared the alleged development. The caption of his post said: “Disturbing news. Omer Sarfaraz Cheema is taking his last breaths in the jail hospital. (Hammad Azhar)”.

The post gained over 38,000 views and 1,800 reshares.

The claim was also shared without Azhar’s attribution.

A fan account for pro-PTI anchorperson Imran Riaz Khan shared the same claim with the caption: “Tragic news ..!! Innocent Omer Sarfaraz Cheema, imprisoned in jail, is taking his last breaths in the jail hospital.”

It amassed nearly 90,000 views and over 2,000 re-shares.

The post was also reshared by anchorperson Sabir Shakir who asked: “Will the fascist government give any explanation?”

His post gained 36,000 views.

The same claim was shared by other users as can be seen here, raking in 53,000 views, and here, which was viewed by 66,000 people and re-shared over 2,300 times.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its high virality and keen public interest in the developments related to incarcerated PTI leaders.

A review of Cheema and Azhar’s official social media accounts to see if they had addressed the claim yielded an October 21 X post by the latter denying that he had ever said any such thing.

“I have not given any such statement. According to my information, Omer Sarfaraz Cheema is fine,” Azhar said while responding to one of the accounts sharing the quote with attribution to him.

PTI lawyer Advocate Salman Shahid also said in an October 21 X post that he had met Cheema and was “perfectly healthy”. “His physiotherapy is ongoing,” he added.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim that PTI leader Omer Sarfaraz Cheema is in very poor health, as per Hammad Azhar, is false.

Azhar denied making any statement such about Cheema and both he and a PTI lawyer said the former Punjab governor was in good health.

Evidence and References

October 21, 2024, Hammad Azhar X post:
https://perma.cc/4FM8-GJ36

October 21, 2024, Advocate Salman Shahid X post:
https://perma.cc/H7CM-L9AN