Agreement between Pakistan government and Imran Khan stating terms for his arrest is fabricated

By: Rahul Adhikari
May 16 2023

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Context
The arrest of former Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan on May 9 in the Al Qadir Trust corruption case has caused a massive uproar in the country over the past few days. According to the newspaper, Dawn, public and private property worth Rs 250 million was damaged in violent riots that erupted after Khan's arrest. The daily also reported that the Rawalpindi Police arrested 76 suspects allegedly involved in the attack on the General Headquarters in the garrison city. In the wake of these events, false claims and narratives are circulating on social media.

A photo of a document purportedly issued by Khan’s political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is being widely shared on social media with the claims that it lays down the conditions for Khan’s arrest. The document, allegedly signed by PTI Chairman Imran Khan, U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Donald Blome, and Interior Secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokhar, claims to show an "agreement" between the former PM and the Government of Pakistan.

The document states three terms presented to the Government of Pakistan concerning Khan's arrest. According to the terms, “Khan will not be forced to be naked while being interrogated, no one will be allowed to rape him, and he will not be tortured.” The document further states that Blome will supervise all these terms and conditions.

We came across multiple tweets sharing the viral image. One widely shared tweet read: "Pakistan army was planning to rape Imran Khan. Even the former PM is not safe from the lust of ISI." One such on Twitter received over 1,63,000 views and 1,346 likes.

In Fact
Khan’s PTI did not sign any agreement with the Government of Pakistan regarding the politician’s arrest. The claim in the post and the viral document are fabricated and created using editing tools.

We compared the viral "agreement" with an official PTI document to identify similarities or differences. We noted that the number and date format in the viral document does not match the official PTI document format. On the official website, the format for a document number is CS/SG/NO/YYYY (for example, CS/SG/335/2023), and the date format is Month Date, Year (for example, April 26, 2023). However, the viral document's format for the document number is CS/SG/NO/YY (CS/SG/73/23), and the date format is DD/MM/YY (08/05/23), clearly distinct from the original PTI format.

Furthermore, the viral document is dated May 8 and supposedly signed by Interior Secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokhar. However, Yousaf Naseem retired from his post on March 7, 2023. Not only has his signature been falsely used in the document, but the spelling of his name is also incorrect - 'Yousuf Naseem Khokar.' His signature on a document dated two months after retirement proves it is fabricated.

Moreover, we compared the signature of Donald Blome, seen on the viral document, to that on an official document available on the U.S. Embassy and Consulates website in Pakistan and noted that they do not match. His signature has been superimposed on the fake document.

Geo Fact Check, the fact-checking initiative of the Pakistani news outlet Geo News, wrote on Twitter, "An official privy to the development told Geo Fact Check on the condition of anonymity, that no such agreement was signed between Khan and the U.S. ambassador..." Further, no official or authoritative figure in Pakistan has shared this so-called agreement.

The Verdict
A fabricated document was shared to falsely claim that the PTI and the Pakistan government had signed an agreement regarding Imran Khan's arrest. No such document was signed with conditions stating that the former Prime Minister would not be subjected to torture. Therefore, we mark this claim false.