Bogus 'free electricity' claims surface in Pakistan
"Breaking news: During Ramadan electricity bill will be free in Punjab for a month," reads an Urdu-language Facebook post published on February 21, 2025 before Ramadan began.
Image
Screenshot of the false Facebook post, captured on April 18, 2025
Similar posts were shared elsewhere on Facebook which prompted comments that indicate people believed the claim.
"What sin have the other provinces committed?" one wrote in response while another said: "Only Punjab gets access to such things."
Naeem Rauf, the energy secretary for Punjab, told AFP the local government had not announced any free electricity campaign for the month of Ramadan which began in late February and ended late March (archived link).
"There was no such plan, and there are currently no plans to provide free electricity for future Ramadans," .
Social media accounts and websites of the federal and provincial energy departments did not mention power subsidies during this year's Ramadan (archived here, here, here and here).
On February 24, local media reported that Energy Minister Awais Leghari guaranteed an uninterrupted supply of power for the opening and closing hours of fasts. He made no mention on "free electricity" during the holy month (archived link).
An AFP journalist in Lahore, Punjab's capital city, interviewed a resident who also refuted the claims.
"For the March bill, I paid ( ," said a 27-year-old video editor who identified himself as Osama.
Local media Geo TV had previously debunked similar claims (archived link).
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
2 hours ago
- France 24
US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says 5 members killed in Hamas attack
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said a bus carrying its staff to a distribution site near Khan Yunis in the south was "brutally attacked by Hamas" around 10:00 pm (1900 GMT). "We are still gathering facts, but what we know is devastating: there are at least five fatalities, multiple injuries, and fear that some of our team members may have been taken hostage," GHF said in a statement. In an email to AFP, the group added that all five of the people killed were Palestinian aid workers for GHF. "These were aid workers. Humanitarians. Fathers, brothers, sons and friends, who were risking their lives every day to help others," the group said in its statement condemning the attack. The distribution of food and basic supplies in the besieged Gaza Strip has become increasingly fraught and perilous, exacerbating the territory's deep hunger crisis. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed while trying to reach distribution points since late May, according to Gaza's civil defence. It said Israeli forces killed 31 people waiting for aid on Wednesday. The Israeli army did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment about the incident. 'Died while waiting' The GHF, an officially private effort with opaque funding, began operating on May 26 after Israel completely cut off supplies into Gaza for more than two months, sparking international outcry and warnings of imminent famine. During its first week of operations, the GHF said it distributed more than seven million meals' worth of food, but its operations were heavily criticised even before the string of deadly incidents near its sites. The United Nations and major aid groups have refused to work with the GHF, citing concerns over its practices and neutrality. The amount of aid being allowed back into the territory meanwhile has been described as only a trickle. Gaza's medics have said hospitals were being inundated with people attacked while trying to obtain food. Al-Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat Camp said early Thursday that four people were killed and 100 wounded in an overnight Israeli drone attack on a gathering at an aid distribution site close to a key checkpoint along the road to northern Gaza. At Gaza City's Al-Shifa Hospital, the emergency room said it had started receiving dozens of victims who had been waiting for aid, including 200 in a single day. "Many Gazans went to the Nabulsi and Netzarim areas to receive aid and were shot at and shelled with tanks," said Mutaz Harara, head of Al-Shifa's emergency department. But with few medical supplies and no operating rooms, "many patients died while waiting for their turn", he said. Convoys through Egypt? To combat the widespread shortages, two activist convoys are attempting to transport supplies to the Gaza border themselves. The Soumoud convoy -- meaning steadfastness in Arabic -- left Tunis in buses and cars on Monday, hoping to pass through divided Libya and Egypt. The Global March to Gaza, which is coordinating with Soumoud, said it is organising a separate mobilisation starting in Cairo on Friday. The plan entails participants marching through the heavily securitised Sinai Peninsula on foot, and camping on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing. Israel's defence minister objected to the mobilisation, and said he expects Egyptian authorities "to prevent the arrival of jihadist protesters at the Egypt-Israel border". Such actions "would endanger the safety of (Israeli) soldiers and will not be allowed," Defence Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday. Egypt said that while it backs efforts to put "pressure on Israel" to lift its blockade on Gaza, any foreign delegations seeking to visit the border area must receive prior approval. With international and domestic pressure on the Israeli government mounting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu survived the latest challenge to his right-wing coalition early Thursday. A bill to dissolve parliament -- which could have led to snap polls -- was narrowly defeated, with 61 members of the Knesset voting against it, and 53 in favour. The opposition had hoped to leverage dissatisfaction with Netanyahu over proposals to enlist ultra-Orthodox men typically exempt from the military draft. But ultimately, the ultra-Orthodox parties did not back the effort. The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which resulting in the deaths of 1,219 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures. The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says the retaliatory Israeli military offensive has killed at least 55,104 people, the majority civilians. The United Nations considers these figures to be reliable. Out of 251 taken hostage during the Hamas attack, 54 are still held in Gaza including 32 the Israeli military says are dead.
France 24
2 hours ago
- France 24
Value oceans, don't plunder them, French Polynesia leader tells AFP
The archipelago in the far South Pacific Ocean, an overseas territory of France, is led by Moetai Brotherson, who believes oceans should be valued, not plundered. President Brotherson spoke with AFP about deep-sea mining, ecological stewardship, and his dream of a day where environment summits are no longer needed. A: "It covers our entire exclusive economic zone, approximately 5 million square kilometres (1.93 million square miles). From north to south, that's equivalent to the distance between Stockholm and Sicily, and from east to west, it's Romania to Portugal. "All seabed exploitation, trawling and seine fishing (use of a large circular weighted net) is prohibited in our waters. And within this area, there are just over 1 million square kilometres that are high protection zones. A: "Yes, absolutely. Even our longliners (which use baited hooks on a long line) will be prohibited in these high protection zones." A: "We are doing it because there are other ways to exploit the ocean than plundering it, and we hope that our example will inspire other countries. "We are not just a people of the ocean, we are the ocean. For us, it is unthinkable to destroy this space, this place that is part of our origins, our legends, our founding myths. We talk about marine protected areas, but here we call it rahui (leaving fallow), and it has existed for 3,000 years. "There are 280,000 of us, and we are here to show the rest of the world that with a population the size of Montpellier, we can achieve great things." A: "I am not the President of the French Republic. But yes, in absolute terms, of course France should do more. "Today -- if we look at France's actions in relation to ocean protection -- it mainly comes from overseas territories." A: "It's a subject that worries me. Our closest neighbour, the Cook Islands, is planning to mine polymetallic nodules in its exclusive economic zone. The machines used are a kind of combine harvester that settle on the ocean floor and destroy everything in their path. "Underwater pollution, like the Chernobyl cloud, will not stop at the border. The plume of dust that will be released will block out the light and prevent the development of phytoplankton, which is necessary to feed the entire food chain. It is a chronicle of a disaster foretold." A: "The message to the big countries is: don't come and lecture us, because you have been destroying the planet for centuries without caring about the environment. It's rather inappropriate to come and lecture us today. "Some of us today see no other solutions for our economic development. The responsibility of the world's major countries is to help us, the small island countries, to develop other socio-economic models based on green tourism, blue tourism and renewable energies, which do not involve exploiting sub-oceanic minerals. "We need adequate funding and development aid." A: "These gatherings can of course be criticised. But they are still necessary to meet decision-makers and people who have the financial means to participate in environmental preservation efforts.
AFP
3 hours ago
- AFP
S. Korean posts misattribute unnamed White House official's remarks on 'Chinese election interference'
leader Lee Jae-myung was elected president, an excerpt from an article in The Guardian was shared in posts misleadingly claiming the newspaper reported that election interference from China had helped him win. The article was in fact analysing comments from an unnamed White House official in the immediate aftermath of Lee's victory about the United States' concerns regarding "Chinese interference and influence in democracies around the world". "The Guardian, UK: Lee Jae-myung was elected president due to China's election interference," reads part of a Korean-language X post shared on June 7, 2025. The post features screenshots of an analysis The Guardian published on June 4, which looked at the issues facing Lee, from trade to diplomacy (archived link). A paragraph from the article, which was also highlighted and translated into Korean, reads: "Inevitably, though, he will soon have to find a way to engage with Donald Trump's White House, whose initial reaction to Lee's resounding victory over his conservative opponent was to suggest that his bumpy path to power had been smoothed by Chinese interference in the vote." Image Screenshot of the misleading X post, captured on June 11, 2025 The June 3 polls that elected Lee, triggered by the impeachment of former president Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed martial bid, were clouded by unsubstantiated claims of foreign interference, with South Korea's conservatives accusing Beijing of underhandedly backing progressive candidates. Similar posts were shared elsewhere on X, as well as on Facebook, Threads and South Korea's DC Inside forum. "Even the UK's left-leaning outlet The Guardian discusses Chinese election interference, yet only South Korean leftists remain unaware," read a comment on one of the posts. Another said, "Britain has confirmed Lee Jae-myung was made president by China." The Guardian article, however, does not say China interfered in the June 3 vote. The analysis piece appears to be referring to remarks from an unnamed White House official in response to a request for comment from Reuters and the Yonhap News Agency after the election (archived here and here). The official told the news agencies: "The US-ROK Alliance remains ironclad. While South Korea had a free and fair election, the United States remains concerned and opposed to Chinese interference and influence in democracies around the world." "The official did not elaborate on the reference to alleged Chinese interference or connect it directly to the South Korean election," the Reuters article adds, but notes that US President Donald Trump's right-wing allies have criticised Lee who has "spoken of the need to balance Seoul's relations with China and the United States". The White House official's remarks stood in contrast to the congratulatory statement from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also reaffirmed the "ironclad" alliance between the countries (archived link). Rubio's statement made no mention of interference in the election. AFP has previously debunked other misinformation surrounding the 2025 presidential election in South Korea.
