Viral ‘Move on Pakistan’ poster of COAS Munir pops up in different cities of Pakistan

Rating Justification

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

To reach this conclusion, iVerify Pakistan thoroughly analysed the image and used image manipulation tools to detect any tampering.

Posts from multiple social media users, including PTI supporters, shared an image on social media platform X on October 29, 2025, allegedly showing a ‘Move on Pakistan’ banner of Field Marshal Asim Munir with text referring to his tenure. However, the poster is doctored.

In September 2025, Prime Minister’s Adviser on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah Khan said that the tenure of the army chief, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, would end in 2027 and a decision whether to extend it or not will be taken at that time.

He said that earlier, the army chief’s term comprised four years, and it was reduced to three years before it was extended to five years. The army chief’s tenure and extension have been under discussion for a while.

In 2024, the government extended the tenure of the chiefs of the army, navy and air force from three to five years under the Pakistan Army Amendment Act 2024. The hasty passage of the law was severely criticised by opposition parties such as the PTI and Jamaat-i-Islami, with even the PPP, a federal coalition partner of the PML-N, also later distancing itself from the development.

HOW IT STARTED

On Oct 29, a user who appears to be a PTI supporter based on his previous posts, shared an image on X showing a banner featuring Field Marshal Asim Munir with the text: “For God’s sake, let go of the talk about leaving”, while questioning the authenticity of the banner.

The post was captioned: “Is this panaflex really hanging on Rawalpindi Murree Road? Need guidance from friends in Rawalpindi. A friend sent this picture from Pindi, which I didn’t believe, and now he has sent it again at night.”

The post gained over 51,100 views.

Mirza Shehzad Akbar, former adviser to ex-PM Imran Khan on accountability and interior, also shared the same image of the banner featuring COAS Munir and compared it with similar banners of former army chief Raheel Sharif, captioning it: “Nothing has changed in ten years! Not even the poster.”

That post received 66,000 views.

The same image, along with similar claims, was also shared by several other PTI supporters on X as can be seen here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here, collectively garnering more than 62,000 views.

Except for one, none of these posts mentioned anything about the location where the alleged poster was seen or provided any other contextual information or alternate pictures.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its high virality and keen public interest in the matter.

A keyword search conducted to corroborate whether such a poster was reported about by credible mainstream news outlets did not yield any reports or other images and videos from different angles and viewpoints from the public or media outlets on any such alleged banner.

Observing the image closely revealed visual inconsistencies. The English text at the bottom right of the banner is not decipherable and appears to be gibberish — a common feature of text generated using AI.

The same is also the case with the text on the logo inscribed on the banner. Moreover, the edges appear smudged, and the internal text looks half-rendered or fuzzy, typical of AI-generated symbols.

This is in contrast to similar posters featuring former army chief Gen (r) Raheel Sharif that were hung in major cities in 2016 by Move on Pakistan, a political party established in 2013 by a businessman from Faisalabad and working for education, health and peace. The posts were also reported about by mainstream news outlets such as Dawn, Express Tribune, Dunya News and Al Arabiya English.

The posters were strung up in the year that the former army chief retired at the end of.

The current banner featuring Field Marshal Munir follows the same design. However, in the original post showing Gen Sharif, the text on the banner reads coherently and says: “Education”, “health” and “peace”.

Analysing the current image through verification tools for potential manipulation showed that AIorNot flagged the photo as likely created using artificial intelligence.

Only one of the numbers mentioned on the banner picked up when called for corroboration with the person on the end of the line denying having printed the poster or having anything to do with it. He said the poster circulating on social media was likely AI-generated and he would publicly address the matter as well.

Dawn correspondents in major cities across Pakistan — Imran Gabol in Lahore, Malik Asad in Islamabad, Tahir Naseer in Rawalpindi, Abdullah Zehri in Quetta, Zahid Imdad in Peshawar and Imtiaz Ali in Karachi — also confirmed that they hadn’t seen the posters in their respective cities or heard about them.

Lastly, a keyword search yielded a November 8, 2022, fact-check report by Geo Fact Check titled: “Fact-check: Posters requesting army chief to seek extension are fake”.

The report showed that manipulation of the original Gen Sharif poster is not a new phenomenon and was done previously as well with the image of former army chief Gen (r) Qamar Javed Bajwa crudely doctored onto the original banner and shared in the same way as the current one featuring Field Marshal Munir.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim that a viral image shows a ‘Move on Pakistan’ banner of Field Marshal Asim Munir with text regarding his tenure is false.

The poster is doctored and not present in any cities.

Evidence and References

Feb 9, 2016, Dawn news report:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1238314

July 13, 2016, Express Tribune news report:
https://tribune.com.pk/story/1140801/army-distances-raheel-poster-campaign

July 14, 2016, Dunya News report:
https://dunyanews.tv/en/Pakistan/345045-Banners-requesting-Gen-Raheel-to-stay-surface-in

July 12, 2016, Al Arabiya English news report:
https://english.alarabiya.net/features/2016/07/12/Posters-begging-for-military-coup-raise-eyebrows-in-Pakistan-

Nove 8, 2022, Geo Fact Check report:
https://www.geo.tv/latest/451054-the-real-posters-had-the-image-of-then-army-chief-general-raheel-sharif-and-date-back-to-2016