Fact-check: Federal ministry of climate change deletes controversial post on Margalla Hills fire
Two officials confirmed that the post was indeed shared but was later deleted
Updated Friday Jun 21 2024
Some Pakistani social media users claim that the Federal Ministry of Climate Change posted and subsequently deleted a controversial message on its X (Twitter) account, suggesting redirecting raging wildfires into the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The claim is true. The post was shared and then retracted.
Claim
On June 2, a politician shared a screenshot of a post purportedly from the federal ministry of climate change and environmental coordination that read: “It is confirmed that at present there is no fire in forests of Islamabad. It's in KP region and in the north of Gokina village in Makhrial, we have made the fire lines and our foresters are confident that they will not let it enter in Margalla and will push it back to KP side.”
The politician criticised the screenshot, alleging that a fire had been raging in Margalla Hill National Park in Islamabad for the past two weeks. “To hide their [the federal government’s] incompetence, the ministry of climate change wants to ‘push it back to KP side’, seriously?” he further wrote.
The post had been viewed over 39,000 views, reposted over 300 reposts and liked over 600 times, at the time of writing.
The screenshot was also shared by other X users, outrage that rather than help extinguish forest fires the federal government was planning to “push” them into another province.
Such posts can be viewed here, here and here.
When social media users couldn't find the post on the Federal Ministry of Climate Change's X handle, they questioned the authenticity of the screenshots.
Fact
Two officials familiar with the matter confirmed that the post was indeed shared on the official X account of the Federal Ministry of Climate Change and environmental coordination but was later deleted.
An official privy to the development, who spoke anonymously to Geo Fact Check over the phone, said that after posting about "pushing back into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa," ministry officials realised the wording was inappropriate.
"Instead of editing the post, they decided to delete it altogether," he said. "This was done with the good intention to prevent the post from being taken out of context and politicised."
Additionally, an official from the Ministry of Climate Change, who also requested anonymity, did not deny the deletion of the post but defended its content when speaking to Geo Fact Check.
He clarified that "pushing back fire" refers to a firefighting technique where controlled fires are deliberately set to eliminate fuel sources, thereby creating a barrier to halt the spread of wildfires. "This method is commonly used to protect homes, communities, or natural resources," he added.
Earlier this month, forest fires erupted in parts of the Margalla Hill in Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad and in an area of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Follow us on @GeoFactCheck. If our readers detect any errors, we encourage them to contact us at [email protected]