Fact check: PM Imran didn’t receive Zakat during Saudi Arabia visit

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan during his recent three-day visit to Saudi Arabia had received Zakat aid from the kingdom – a false claim debunked by Rapid News.

The misleading information is based on a picture of Federal Minister for Communications Murad Saeed wherein he can be seen attending a launching ceremony of ‘Zakat Al-Fitr Project in Pakistan’ sponsored by Saudi Arabia.

As soon as the picture went viral on social media, netizens started lashing out at Premier Imran for “receiving Zakat aid from the kingdom”.

However, Rapid News  found the claim untrue as the ruling party’s minister was not in Saudi Arabia rather he was attending the ceremony organised by King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) at the Saudi Embassy in Islamabad to distribute ration bags among deserving families last week.

Alhamdulillah,after Amazon,now our beloved Pakistan is also making an agreement with Saudi Arabia to take zakat and zakat al-fitr and at the same time I will receive the minister who was going to hit 200 billion IMF in the face.@ImranKhanPTI thanks@MaryamNSharif#ڈرتےہیں_شہبازسے pic.twitter.com/Eff0U0Lxij

— AfzalKhokharMNA136 (@AfzalkhokharMNA) May 8, 2021

KSrelief also launched a food bags project worth $1 million to be distributed among the people in 10 districts of Balochsitan during the holy month of Ramazan.

According to an official press release, the project is being executed in collaboration with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and local government of Balochistan will benefit about 124,200 people in 10 districts of Balochistan in Ramzan.