A notification is distributed in social networks states that the federal government has banned the publication and distribution of the literary work of the Pakistani writer Saadat Hasan Manto. The notification also supposedly orders educational institutions to eliminate their writings from their programs.
The claim is false.
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A notification, widely shared in the WhatsApp groups and attributed to the Ministry of Information and Radiodice, states that, according to the Electronic Crime Law of Pakistan, the Government has prohibited the publication, distribution and promotion of the writings of Saadat Hasan Manto.
“It has been observed that certain short stories and literary works created by Mr. Manth are inconsistent with moral, cultural and religious values confirmed by Pakistani society,” says the document.
The notification labels even more the mantle writings as “obscene and contrary to public decency” and instructs educational institutions throughout the country to eliminate their work from their curricula.
The document seems to be signed by the Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Radiodifusion.
The claim was also shared in X, previously known as Twitter.
Made
The notification has not been issued by the Ministry of Information and there is no prohibition of mantle work.
Ambreen Jan, the Federal Information and Transmission Secretary, said Geographic data verification that the notification is “false.”
Tariq IQBAL, the spokesman for the Higher Education Commission (HEC), Islamabad, said the commission has not received said directive. Similarly, Khurram Shahzad, the public relations officer at the University of Punjab, Lahore, confirmed that the Ministry of Information has not issued such instructions to the University.
Ali Kamran, managing director of SANG-E-Meel Publications, an editorial highlighted in Lahore, also said: “officially, we have not received any direction from the government.”
To further verify the authenticity of the document, Geographic data verification He analyzed it using Attesiv, a digital forensic platform based in AI based in the US. The platform assigned to the document a manipulation score of 91, which indicates a high probability that the content is not authentic.
Verdict: The claim that the federal government has banned the publication, distribution and promotion of the writings of Saadat Hasan Manto is false.
