Viral visuals had brand and Urdu textual content inconsistencies, suggesting they could have been digitally altered
A number of PTI supporters have been sharing two visuals on social media platforms X and Fb since August 11, 2026, purportedly displaying screenshots from a information bulletin of Specific Digital. They claimed that the alleged PTI employee who was just lately killed in Rawalpindi was harmless and had been kidnapped two days earlier than his loss of life. Nevertheless, the visuals are pretend, and no such information was reported.
It ought to be talked about that Specific Digital is a platform that has been dormant for over a yr.
A person was shot useless by regulation enforcement officers on Rawalpindi’s Mall Highway on August 11, 2026, after he allegedly opened fireplace on a safety patrol, injuring one official. The suspect, recognized as Muhammad Hussain, son of Muhammad Baaz, was a resident of Khyber Company. Police recovered a pistol, bullets, a political social gathering flag, a cap, and a cell phone from him. A case was registered beneath the Anti-Terrorism Act with the Crime Management Division, Rawalpindi, and additional investigation is beneath means.
Data Minister Attaullah Tarar, talking on information channels, recognized the suspect as an “energetic member” of PTI and accused the social gathering of pursuing “politics of violence”, pointing to its introduced lengthy march to Islamabad on September 27.
PTI denied any organisational hyperlink to the attacker. PTI Islamabad Regional President Amir Mughal rejected Tarar’s claims. In the meantime, Shafi Jan, aide to the chief minister of KP, acknowledged that the attacker could have been a PTI supporter however mentioned he held no social gathering place and that it was unfair to hyperlink a person act of violence to all the organisation. The social gathering demanded an impartial judicial inquiry into the incident.
The way it began
On August 11, a PTI supporter shared a visible on X that includes an Specific Digital breaking information template and Hussain’s {photograph}. The Urdu textual content on the visible attributed an announcement to Hussain’s mom, claiming that her son had been kidnapped two days earlier and was later killed in Rawalpindi.
The caption reads: “What sort of justice is that this, and how much lawless state is that this? In Rawalpindi, the police brutally killed this man and, to avoid wasting their very own skins, instantly pinned the blame on him, claiming he had opened fireplace on the safety forces.”
The put up accrued 11,000 views.
The identical screenshot was shared on Fb by one other PTI supporter with the next caption: “Specific Digital Information, drama uncovered.”
The put up gathered 1,200 likes.
The identical day, one other visible that includes the identical Specific Digital template additionally started circulating on X. The picture, shared by a PTI supporter, carried the next textual content: “He wasn’t a terrorist; an harmless man was killed by mistake, police disclose.”
In the meantime, the caption learn: “Breaking: Rawalpindi Police, admitting their mistake, have declared the PTI employee harmless. An harmless employee was killed by mistake!”
The put up racked up 43,000 views.
One other pro-PTI account shared the identical screenshot on X with the next caption: “Breaking Information: Who’s accountable? The place have those that held the press convention gone now?”
The put up obtained 2,900 views.
Methodology
A fact-check was initiated to find out the veracity of the declare because of its virality and eager public curiosity within the incident.
The visuals used the title of the Specific Digital platform, related to Specific Information.
Key phrase and reverse picture searches have been carried out to find out whether or not related reviews — linked to the alleged innocence and abduction of Hussain — have been carried by Specific Information or different credible home media shops, however no such information tales have been discovered.
Investigating Specific Digital’s Fb and YouTube pages confirmed that they have been dormant, with the final posts dated again to March and July 2025, after which the pages seem to have remained inactive.
Muhammad Haris, senior YouTube government at Specific Information, confirmed the identical, including that it hadn’t printed any such information of the type.
Specific Information correspondent Khalid Mehmood additionally mentioned that nothing of the type was reported or heard of.
Moreover, inspecting the visuals intently revealed a number of inconsistencies. First, the brand within the viral visuals differed from the unique Specific Digital brand, with ‘categorical’ written in uppercase within the former and in lowercase within the latter, whereas the textual content field for ‘digital’ is black within the former and white within the latter.
Second, the Urdu textual content used within the viral visuals appeared inconsistent with the channel’s regular graphic type. The font, formatting, and placement of the textual content appeared uncommon, giving the impression that the textual content could have been digitally added to the visuals somewhat than being a part of an authentic Specific Digital graphic.
Truth-check standing: False
The declare that viral visuals present a media outlet reporting that the PTI supporter killed in Rawalpindi on Aug 11 was harmless and kidnapped earlier than loss of life is false.
The visuals are pretend, and no such information has been reported by any media outlet.
This reality verify was initially printed by iVerify Pakistan — a undertaking of CEJ-IBA and UNDP.
