Viral Letter Claiming Pak PMO Barred Media From Reporting on Iran Strike Is Fake

A journalist from Pakistan confirmed that no such announcement had been made by the PMO or the government.

A letter, purportedly issued by Pakistan's Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has gone viral on social media.

• The letter instructs media houses to avoid reporting the recent Iranian strikes in Pakistan and also bars media personnel from entering the affected areas.

• This comes after Iran admitted carrying out a missile and drone strike in western Pakistan on Tuesday, 16 January, which claimed two lives.

(Archives of similar claims can be found here, here and here.)

But the letter is fake: This letter is not issued by the Pakistani government.

• Pakistan's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting clarified that this letter is "fake and fabricated".

How did we find out the truth?: We checked the official website of Pakistan's PMO and did not any such announcement or press release.

• We also checked PMO's official X (formerly Twitter) account and did not find the viral letter.

• We came across a post by Pakistan's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting posted on 17 January 2024.

• The post clarified that this letter is "fake and fabricated".

This is a fake and fabricated note. The concerned government agencies will prosecute fabricating and disseminating these fake media products to the fullest extent of the law. pic.twitter.com/mRqyhe1HNO

— Fact Checker MoIB (@FactCheckerMoIB) January 17, 2024

Pak's response to the blast: The official account of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan, operated by Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, shared a post on X condemning the attack.

🔊: PR NO. 1️⃣5️⃣/2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣4️⃣

Pakistan’s Strong Condemnation of the Unprovoked Violation of its Air Space

🔗⬇️https://t.co/TAWRqC7qMy pic.twitter.com/oqi3tvAOso

— Spokesperson 🇵🇰 MoFA (@ForeignOfficePk) January 16, 2024

Claim dismissed by Pak journalist: We reached out to Lubna Jerar Naqvi, a fact-checker and a journalist from Pakistan who clarified that no such official announcement has been made by the Prime Minister or the Pakistani government.

More context: According to the officials in Islamabad, two children were killed and three others were injured in the attack in Balochistan.

• Iran's foreign minister stated that this operation was targeted at the "Iranian terrorist group" Jaish al-Adl.

• Islamabad has struck back at targets in Iran on Thursday, 18 January as part of "Operation Marg Bar Sarmachar."

• The attacks come at a time that the Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility for a police station attack in the southeastern border province of Sistan-Balochistan, which killed 11 Iranian security personnel.

We have reached out to the Pakistani officials for more context and the story would be updated once we receive a response.

Conclusion: A fake letter is going viral to claim that Pakistan PMO has barred media outlets from reporting on the Iranian strikes.

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