Fact-check: Was a red carpet rolled out for the CM Punjab in a graveyard?

Pakistani social media users have repeatedly shared pictures and video clips claiming that a red carpet was rolled out in a local cemetery in Jhelum, Punjab, for the caretaker chief minister of the province.

The videos have ignited outrage across social media platforms where online posts also allege that government funds were doled out for the extravagant arrangements.

The claim is misleading and is being misrepresented online.

Claim

“Mr caretaker chief minister Punjab Mohsin Naqvi went to pray at his father-in-law’s grave,” wrote a user on X, formerly known as Twitter, on November 3, “People at these public positions have become so used to the VIP culture that they cannot visit a grave without a red carpet.”

The user then criticised the chief minister for availing these protocols when the country was reeling under high inflation.

“Everyone thinks the national treasury is their father's domain. Come, loot, eat, drink and enjoy,” the user added.

The account also posted a picture and a six-second video showing Naqvi walking in a graveyard decorated with a marquee and a bright red carpet.

This post had been viewed over 9,000 times and reposted over 100 times, at the time of writing.

Another X user also shared the same picture of the caretaker chief minister walking on a red carpet in a graveyard with the caption: “People don't have money to buy shrouds for their loved ones and here an unconstitutional caretaker chief minister goes to his father-in-law's grave and a red carpet is laid out for him at public expense.”

The post has been liked over 200 times and reposted upward to 100 times, to date.

Similar posts took off on Facebook as well here and here.

Fact

Three officials confirm that a red carpet was indeed rolled out in a graveyard in Jhelum on November 2 for the interim chief minister Mohsin Naqvi, when he visited his father-in-law’s burial place. However, the officials added that rolling out red carpets when senior public officeholders visit the graves of martyred cops was a normal practice.

On that day, the chief minister was accompanied by the chief secretary and the inspector general police of the province as well.

“Yes, we paid for [the red carpet],” Osama Sharoon, the assistant commissioner of the Pind Dadan Khan tehsil in Jhelum, told Geo Fact Check over the phone, “The total cost was barely Rs10,000 and the ceremony only lasted 15 minutes.”

Sharoon then added that the special arrangements were not made for Naqvi but as a tribute to the chief minister’s father-in-law, a police officer who was martyred in 1997.

Ayaz Saleem, the city police officer in Gujranwala, also confirmed the same to Geo Fact Check.

“This is a standard operating procedure,” he said, over the phone, “The red carpet was in honour of the martyr and not for the caretaker chief minister.”

Saleem added that later that day the caretaker chief minister had also visited the district prison and police stations in Mandi Bahauddin, another city in Punjab, but no red carpets were laid out for him then.

Muhammad Mudassar Khan, the spokesperson of the Jhelum police, explained that a police band was also arranged on November 2, when the chief minister visited, to give a salutation to Naqvi’s father-in-law, the police martyr buried in the graveyard.

Khan then shared a page on the Punjab police’s website which stated that Naqvi’s father-in-law, Ashraf Marth, a senior superintendent of police, was martyred on the morning of May 6, 1997, in Gujranwala by unknown assailants.

With additional reporting by Fayyaz Hussain.

Follow us on @GeoFactCheck. If our readers detect any errors, we encourage them to contact us at [email protected]