Fact check: US expert Michael Kugelman did not call PTI protest’s turnout ‘total flop’, screenshots of X posts are fake

Former Balochistan caretaker information minister Jan Achakzai on Monday posted an alleged screenshot of US scholar Michael Kugelman deriding the turnout of the current PTI protest. However, Kugelman did not make any such posts and rubbished the screenshot.

On Nov 13, PTI founder Imran Khan issued a “final call” for nationwide protests on Sunday, denouncing what he described as the stolen mandate, the unjust arrests of people and the passage of the 26th amendment, which he said strengthened a “dictatorial regime”.

Protesters have currently entered Islamabad where tensions are running high as the army has been deployed to deal with miscreants. A pitched battle erupted at Chungi No 26 — on the outskirts of the capital — on the night of Nov 25 between police and PTI protesters after an advance team of the party’s caravan reached the area.

On Monday, Achakzai posted a photo on X, featuring an alleged screenshot of Kugelman, a scholar of South Asian affairs at the Wilson Centre in Washington, criticising the number of protesters in the PTI call for a protest in Islamabad.

Kugelman’s alleged post read: “PTI’s final call has become a total flop. Two days in, not a single PTI worker reached Islamabad. PTI leaders are now resorting to local photo ops to cover the embarrassment. The so-called revolution has ended before it began!”

The post was dated Nov 23 at 5pm.

The screenshot showed Kugelman quoting his own post and writing: “Over the last 24 hours, PTI-linked accounts have resorted to intimidation, and even tried to question the veracity of my tweet. Let me set the record straight: I stand by my words. Their protest has visibly failed to garner meaningful public support.”

The post was dated Nov 24 at 8pm and Achakzai wrote in the caption of his post: “PTI final call is over.”

The post garnered over 250,000 views and the screenshot of Kugelman’s alleged post was also shared here and here.

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality, significant public interest in the PTI protest and to hold a politician and former minister accountable by checking the potential spread of misinformation by them.

Closely observing the screenshot, the team noted a discrepancy: the terms “Retweets” and “Quote Tweets” were used instead of “Reposts” and “Quotes” in Kugelman’s alleged X posts, reflecting the older terminology used when X was still Twitter.

Meanwhile, Achakzai’s own X post used “Reposts” and “Quotes”.

This inconsistency indicated the screenshot was fabricated or edited as X updated its terminology under Elon Musk’s ownership since current posts on the social media platform, as seen on the Android application, use “Reposts” and “Quotes”.

Kugelman’s X timeline was also reviewed to corroborate the alleged posts but they were not found, nor did the tone of his overall posts seem in line with the language and style of the alleged posts. Instead, his posts, as can be seen here and here, mentioned the successful turnout of the people despite the obstacles before them.

Furthermore, a review of his timeline also yielded a Monday post where he debunked the screenshot.

“This is another fabrication. Both tweets below are fake. I never said any of this,” he said.

Therefore, the fact-check determined that the claim that Kugelman made X posts deriding the turnout of people for the PTI’s final call protest for Islamabad is false. The alleged screenshot, originally posted by Achakzai, showed visual inconsistencies indicative of fabrication and the posts were rubbished by Kugelman himself.

This fact check was originally published by iVerify Pakistan — a project of CEJ and UNDP.