Fact-check: Shahzeb Khanzada’s tweet has been digitally altered to misquote finance minister

A screenshot purporting to show a tweet by journalist Shahzeb Khanzada claiming the finance minister told him that Pakistan was open to selling its nuclear assets if the International Monetary Fund (IMF) did not assist the country has been forged and was not posted by the journalist.

Claim

On December 3, an image began doing the rounds on social media, which showed a tweet allegedly by Geo Television’s journalist Khanzada quoting the Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar.

A day earlier, Khanzada had interviewed the finance minister in his show "Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath".

The posted tweet reads: “Pakistan will not default. It does not matter if one does not have the atomic capability. Save the country today. We can get nuclear weapons again after five years. If the IMF doesn’t help us we will not beg them. Our ninth review is complete. The IMF should give Pakistan the next installment. We have told them [IMF] that your attitude is abnormal. If the IMF doesn’t come, then we will sell our nuclear program as this program is already a burden on the public exchequer – Ishaq Dar.”

The tweet was shared on Facebook as well.

Fact

Khanzada’s original tweet from December 3 has been altered to include words about Pakistan’s nuclear program.

A Twitter advanced search did not reveal any such tweet posted by the journalist. Neither did the finance minister make any such comment about the nuclear program on Khanzada’s show, which aired on December 2.

Geo Fact Check also used WayBack Machine to check if the journalist had deleted any of his tweets. It found no record of any such tweet.

The original tweet that was shared by Khanzada on December 3, with the video interview of the finance minister, read: “Pakistan will not default. If the IMF does not help us, we won’t beg them. I have to look at the situation in Pakistan. Our ninth review is complete. The IMF should pay the installment to Pakistan. I have told them [the IMF] that their behavior is abnormal. If the IMF does not come, then we will manage.”

The text: “It does not matter if one does not have the atomic capability. Save the country today. We can get nuclear weapons again after five years,” and “If the IMF doesn’t come, then we will sell our nuclear program as this program is already a burden on the public exchequer,” were altered and added to the original tweet.

These words were never spoken by the finance minister nor tweeted by the journalist.

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