No, Pakistan's Dawn Did Not Report People Not Reading Quran Caused Floods

A viral screenshot claiming Pakistani daily Dawn published a story saying floods in the country are because of people not reading the Quran, is fake and morphed.

BOOM found that the viral screenshot is an edited from an existing Dawn article about rescue efforts in the aftermath of the floods.

Pakistan is facing severe floods in several areas since June, leaving lakhs of people displaced and houses and properties destroyed. With unabated rains, nearly one-third of the country remains inundated, hampering rescue and relief work. According to the Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority, the floods have since June killed over 1000 people and left almost 1,600 people injured.

The fake screenshot is being shared on Twitter and Facebook with various claims by several Indian accounts, with most captions mocking the flood-ravaged country.

The viral screenshot has the logo, mast head of the Pakistani newspaper DAWN with the date line mentioned as August 27, 2022. The story headline reads, 'Flood in Pakistan is not due to Climate Change, but because people are not reading Quran' and carries the byline of three reporters -- Saleem Shahid, Manzoor Ali and Iftikhar A. Khan. The screenshot does not show any story body but has four photos showing flooding and the damage it caused.

FACT CHECK

BOOM found that the viral screenshot is edited to display the fake headline and that Dawn did not carry any such news story.

A reverse image search on the screenshot with the keywords as the bylines seen -- Saleem Shahid + Manzoor Ali + Iftikhar A Khan -- showed results for a story published in The Dawn on August 27, 2022, titled 'Army called in as KP faces flood threat'.

The story had the same reporter bylines as in the viral screenshot and also carried the same images of flooded areas.

A search for the headline from the viral screenshot - 'Flood in Pakistan is not due to Climate Change, but because people are not reading Quran' did not show results for any published story by the Dawn with the same headline.

We found a story published by the news outlet, drawing attention to the viral screenshot and stating that it is fake and edited.

In the clarification story published on August 30, 3022 titled, 'Doctored screenshot of Dawn's story on floods surfaces on social media, attempts to mislead public', Dawn said the screenshot is doctored and also listed out why. The story stated, that the viral screenshot had several style guide differences including, "...the headline ends with a full stop, it uses uppercase Cs for the words climate and change and the false headline reads like a statement without being attributed to a personality..."

Dawn further added, "The original story talks about Pakistan Army being deployed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after floods wreaked havoc in the province last week. The fabricated headline shown in the doctored screenshot neither appears in the actual story nor anywhere else on the website."