Pakistan Lahore : Even though there were several posts on social media claiming that a recent book fair in Lahore only sold 35 books, there was no evidence to support those claims, and the source of the information acknowledged that the information was shared without verification.
A post that Startup Karachi, a page that bills itself as a media company, made on October 20 received 1,400 shares and 1,900 reactions on Facebook.
“At a recent book fair in Lahore, the spotlight was unexpectedly stolen by delicious food rather than literature,” read the post’s caption. Attendees ate a remarkable 1,200 shawarmas and 800 biryanis while only 35 books were sold. The event, which was meant to help people learn about literature and culture, turned into a food festival that showed how much the community loves food.
In a similar vein, a video about the alleged sales of digital creators TheMedBros at the book fair received 6,200 reactions and 629 shares. The alleged development was also shared by numerous other news and information-aggregating Facebook pages.
On October 22, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif contributed to the discussion by tweeting the following: There is little chance that the mind will win the battle between the stomach and the mind. Our collective mental appetite is still low overall. 50,500 people clicked on his post.
One thing to note is that none of the posts that were observed shared particular or significant information, such as the event’s organizers, the location, the dates, or any photographs of the event.
The actor and producer Khaled Anam was the source of the viral posts after further investigation.
The actor’s X and Instagram accounts did not display such a post; however, his Threads account posted the following on October 19: A book fair was held in a Lahore college last week. At the fair, 35 books, 1,200 shawarma, 800 biryanis, 900 burgers, and 1,800 Coca-Cola drinks were sold, according to the college administration’s report.
Due to the claim’s virality and strong public interest in and engagement with the alleged development, which even prompted a federal minister to comment on it, iVerify initiated a fact-check to determine its veracity.
There were no relevant news stories about medical coverage of any recent major book fairs. The Lahore International Book Fair (LBIF), which typically takes place in February, is Lahore’s most well-known book fair.
“The genesis of this so-called ‘news’ appears to be from a clickbait social media page/website,” LBIF Vice Chairman Kashif Mir Zubair told iVerify. I am pleased to report that this information regarding the LBIF is entirely false. It’s possible that the story was written in a way that reflects on the LBIF at a small book fair at a college that also had food stalls.
The Lahore Expo Centre hosted the 37th LBIF in February 2024, with more than 200 stalls. During the five-day event, hundreds of thousands of people attended, and books worth tens of millions of rupees were sold at a substantial discount. As they do each year, all of Pakistan’s major publishers and bookshops participated in this book fair. I also need to point out that there were never any “food stalls” at the LIBF because we only allow publishers and bookshops to exhibit.
In a subsequent video message on his X account, Anam apologized for his previous social media post and provided clarification.
“A clarification was required, and I’m about to provide it because a situation on social media escalated. I saw a post in English two days ago that I found to be funny, so I translated it into Urdu and shared it as a joke on my social media page.
“It was interpreted incorrectly; however, I am not concerned with how it was interpreted; my mistake was not verifying whether something similar actually occurred and not mentioning the source if it did. He stated, “I’ll tell you the source; I can name some webpages, but I don’t want anyone to be disturbed by me.”
I apologize for sharing something without verification because it was my fault. I was unaware that it would be misinterpreted because I shared it as a joke. I still think it’s a joke, but given that some people were given the opportunity to mock our country, cities, and students, we shouldn’t give anyone that opportunity.
While some pointed out that the post was occasionally shared and was attributed to various individuals, the actor stated that he had immediately removed his post when he noticed that it did not seem appropriate.
The actor apologized once more and promised never to share anything without verifying it. BBC Urdu also reported his clarification, and the actor was contacted for a comment on the matter.
