ISLAMABAD – An image of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan has beenshared thousands of times in multiple Facebook posts which claim thePakistani government plans to change the country’s weekly holiday fromSunday to Friday starting from March 1, 2020. The image was shared in ascreenshot of a purported television news bulletin. The claim is false; thegovernment denied it was preparing to implement the change and said that nosuch proposal was under consideration; the purported television newsbulletin was not produced by an official broadcaster in Pakistan.
The claim was made in this link postpublished on February 11, 2020. It has been shared more than 9,600 times.
The post’s caption, which is written in Urdu and Arabic, translates toEnglish as: “Holiday of holy Friday. Hello and welcome.”
The post also features an image of a purported breaking news bulletin from ZSNNews link, an unverified Facebook page which listsone phone number as its sole point of contact.
The image includes a photo of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khanlink and the following reporting: “From March1, Sunday holiday is being discontinued. There will be half day on Thursdayand holy Friday will be a complete holiday. Notification has been issued.Prime Minister Imran Khan.”
Below is a screenshot of the misleading Facebook post:Screenshot of the misleading Facebook post
The same image was shared alongside a similar claim on Facebook herelink, here link herelink.
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The claim is false. Firdous Ashiq Awan link,a government spokeswoman and a Special Assistant to the Prime Minister,denied that the weekly holiday in Pakistan would change from Sunday toFriday.
“Such a decision is taken by the Federal Cabinet and so far there is noproposal before it about changing the weekly holiday,” Awan told AFP onFebruary 26, 2020 by phone.
ZSN News is not listed as an official broadcaster in Pakistan by the statemedia regulator, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) inthislinkofficialdocument.
The image of Khan in the misleading posts has been taken from thislink profile on the Pakistangovernment website.
