*ISLAMABAD – Four photos have been shared thousands of times in multipleposts on Facebook and Twitter published between December 2017 and May 2019alongside a claim they show a Pakistani female police officer shot dead inthe Pakistani city of Karachi. The claim is false; AFP spoke to the officeron the telephone after the misleading posts were published; one of thephotos in the misleading posts shows the funeral of a different policeofficial in 2014. *
The photos were shared in this Facebook post published on April 29, 2019which has been shared more than 6,600 times after being posted by a pagewith more than 137,000 followers.
Below is a screenshot of the misleading Facebook post:
The first photo in the misleading post shows Pakistani policewoman ZahidaParveen escorted by two policemen; the second photo shows police officerscarrying a coffin; the third photo shows Parveen in her police uniform; thefourth photo shows a woman lying on a street with a wound near her eye.
The Urdu language caption translates to English as: “ASP (AssistantSuperintendent Police) Zahida Parveen was martyred in firing by unknownpeople in Karachi. May Allah grant the deceased a high place in paradise.Amen.”
“Zahida Parveen” is a Pakistani police officer. She is listed here as anassistant district officer in Karachi on the website for the Government ofPakistan Frontier Constabulary.
Below is a screenshot of the page:
This is her official Facebook page.
The same photos in the misleading Facebook post were included in a videoshared in Facebook posts here and here with a similar claim.
The same photos were also published here and here on Twitter with a similarclaim.
The claim is false; AFP spoke to the officer on the telephone after themisleading posts were published; one of the photos in the misleading postsshows the funeral of a different police official in 2014.
An AFP journalist in Isalamabad spoke to Parveen by phone on April 30, 2019.
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She said false reports of her death had surfaced in 2017.
She said: “These fake news on social media about my death do not affect me,however these are disturbing for my family.”
Parveen told AFP she has previously publicly denied false reports of herdeath on her Facebook page, including here.
Below is a screenshot of her Facebook post:She has shared posts on herFacebook page as recently as May 13, 2019.
This photo in the misleading posts shows the funeral of a different policeofficer in November 2014.
Below is a screenshot of the photo in the misleading Facebook posts:
A reverse image search on Google found the photo had been published in thisreport published on the website of the Pakistani daily newspaper TheExpress Tribune on November 11, 2014.
The photo caption states the image was taken by state-run Associated Pressof Pakistan at the funeral of two police officials in Karachi.
The first two paragraphs say: “KARACHI: The attack on a police mobile thatclaimed the lives of two policemen and injured another on Monday eveninghas left investigators scratching their heads about the culprits.
“Head Constable Shamsur Rehman and Constable Muhammad Mobin were killed andpoliceman Sohail Ejaz was wounded when assailants on motorcycles hurled ahand grenade and a flammable chemical on their vehicle while they werepatrolling on MA Jinnah Road. The chemical immediately caught fire, guttingthe vehicle and causing severe burn injuries to the policemen.” -APP/AFP
