PTI supporters on social media platform X have been sharing posts since Monday related to an alleged visual of digital news outlet Siasat.pk, featuring a quote from senior journalist Suhail Warraich about Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz. However, the viral visual is doctored.
Punjab remains in the grip of a worsening flood crisis, as the Chenab, Ravi, and Sutlej rivers surge to “exceptionally high” levels, threatening vast swathes of land, while the Provincial Disaster Management Authority has warned of more torrential rain, which could lead to urban flooding across Lahore, Gujranwala, and Gujrat.
On Sept 1, a visual of digital news outlet Siasat.pk was shared on X by a user who appeared to be a PTI supporter based on his past posts and username. The visual featured a quote attributed to Warraich.
The text on the image read: “The type of anti-ageing treatment Maryam Nawaz is undergoing has harmful side effects — it causes brain cells to shrink. That’s why Maryam has been acting childishly and behaving with extreme stubbornness. Otherwise, only an ignorant person would put their own photos on flood relief supplies.”
The post was viewed by more than 47,800 users.
The same post was shared by other PTI supporters as well. These posts can be seen here, here, and here, collectively garnering over 38,000 views.
A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality and keen public interest in the Punjab floods and the provincial government’s response to them.
A reverse image search to corroborate whether Siasat.pk had shared any such post produced no results. Reviewing the platform’s official X and Facebook accounts also yielded nothing.
A keyword search to confirm whether the senior journalist had made the remarks anywhere in speech or writing also yielded no results.
On closer examination of the viral post, several discrepancies were identified. The QR code in the lower-left corner was scanned and led to an unrelated X post instead of the source where Warraich might have made the alleged statement, indicating it had no connection to the alleged claim.
A comparison between the viral visual and the platform’s authentic templates revealed clear differences. Siasat.pk currently uses two standard designs. In both, the QR code appears with the word “source” written in a regular font beneath it with the “S” in upper case.
In the viral post, however, “source” appears in bold font with the “S” in lower case.
Additional inconsistencies include an incorrect date format (“Sept01,2025” without spacing and using a non-standard abbreviation) and an oversized logo compared to the original posts.
Therefore, the fact-check determined that the claim that a viral visual shows journalist Suhail Warraich making critical remarks about CM Maryam Nawaz is false. The viral visual is doctored, and no evidence exists that the journalist has uttered the alleged remarks.
This fact check was originally published by iVerify Pakistan — a project of CEJ-IBA and UNDP.
