Tribune Fact Check: Viral photo of Murad Ali Shah at religious procession in Karachi

The claim is false as the viral photo shows Sindh chief minister at a 2018 ashura procession in Karachi

An image showing Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah leading a  religious procession in Karachi has gone viral.

You can see the image here:



Pakistani Twitter soon began sharing the photos with the claim that the Pakistan Peoples Party leader was purportedly leading the jaloos for Youm-e-Ali in the coastal city.

The Express Tribune analysed the images and found them to be of the chief minister taking part in the ashura jaloos on the 10th of Muharram in 2018.

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We went through archival footage and found the visuals from Murad inspecting arrangements.

In the footage former Sindh IGP Kaleem Imam is seen on his left.



However, Mushtaq Ahmed Mahar has now replaced Imam as Sindh's top cop.

You can see our video here:



We also found a tweet from the official handle of the advisor Sindh and law department from 2o18 that "Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and Advisor to CM Murtaza Wahab lead the procession of 10th Muharram ul Haram Julos in Karachi".

Wahab holds the same piece of paper in his hand in the image.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and Advisor to CM Murtaza Wahab lead the procession of 10th Muharram ul Haram Julos in Karachi.#MuharramUlHaram #SindhGovernment pic.twitter.com/WaQ1gwUYkF

— Spokesperson Govt of Sindh (@SindhDepartment) September 21, 2018

An unofficial Facebook account of the Sindh chief minister also shared the same image in 2o18 here:

Rasheed Channa, a spokesperson for chief minister also confirmed that Murad had not taken part in this year's jaloos.

Parliamentarian Ijazul Haq also shared the image on Twitter in an attempt to troll the Sindh chief minister but soon deleted the post.



https://twitter.com/fatah_pak/status/1261384875682287622

The viral image stirred an intense debate over  the government's orders for social distancing at religious gatherings amid the Covid-19 pandemic.