A set of two screenshots purporting to be tweets by Pakistan's Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar ul Haq Kakar and former Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif on X (formerly Twitter) confirming fugitive mafia don and terrorist Dawood Ibrahim's death are fake.
BOOM found that both of these leaders did not post anything about Dawood Ibrahim on their official X handles.
The fake screenshots are being shared in the backdrop of several unverified news reports claiming that Ibrahim was poisoned in Pakistan. There has been no official confirmation by Indian police agencies or the Pakistani government on Dawood Ibrahim being poisoned to death. Rumours about his death have surfaced from time to time. In 2017 there were several unverified media reports claiming that Dawood was critical and in hospital. While there is no official confirmation, Indian intelligence officers quoted in verified media reports have stated that Dawood, a fugitive in India, is staying in Karachi, Pakistan for several years now.
According to a Times of India report published on December 19, 2023, Dawood's close aide Chhota Shakeel was quoted as claiming that Ibrahim is "1000 percent fit".
A screenshot of a post by one of Kakar's fan accounts was shared on X by the handle @Dr_RizwanAhmed with the caption, "Here’s the official confirmation: Dawood Ibrahim is dead."
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The same handle also shared a screenshot of a post by what appeared to be former Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif's handle.
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The fake X screenshots have gone viral on X with misleading claims.
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that both the X screenshots of Pakistan's Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar ul Haq Kakar and former Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif are fake and that they did not post anything about Dawood Ibrahim from their official X handles.
We found tell-tail signs in the viral screenshots pointing to them being fake. First, both these tweets have the old X or Twitter format which was changed after Elon Musk's takeover of the social media website in October 2022.
In Kakar's screenshot, we can see "Twitter for android" and in Sharif's post we can see "Twitter for iPhone" labels.
These labels are no longer to be seen on any tweets on X. Musk had in December 2022 posted, that these labels which show device details had been removed.
Additionally, the handle name mentioned in Kakar's screenshot is "@anwaar_kakkar", whereas his official handle is "@anwaar_kakar".
The handle "@anwaar_kakkar" in its X handle name mentions it is a "fan" account and does not have a verified grey tick.
We also ran an advanced X keyword search and did not find any replies to deleted posts by Kakar or Sharif's official X handles. Both these leaders have also not posted anything on their official handles about Dawood, on his hospitalisation or death.
Their official handles' timeline can be seen here and here.
BOOM was not able to independently verify whether the news of Dawood Ibrahim being hospitalised or poisoned to death are true, but we found that no Pakistani leaders posted about the same and that the viral screenshots are fake.
