Fact-check: Posts falsely claim Justice Mandokhail is related to PML-N politician
Official documents and Jaffar Khan Mandokhel confirm that the judge is not his sibling
Updated Saturday Apr 08 2023
Shortly after a Supreme Court judge, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, recused himself from a top court bench hearing a petition by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) into the delay in the election for the Punjab Assembly, social media users began circulating a claim that the judge was the brother of a politician from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
The claim is incorrect.
Claim
On April 1, a Twitter account posted a picture of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif with politician Jaffar Khan Mandokhel, who belongs to Sharif’s party, the PML-N.
The tweet was captioned: “[Court] benches do not break up on their own. This is Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail’s brother Jaffar Khan Mandokhel, who is the president of the [Pakistan] Muslim League-N Balochistan. The rest you can figure out yourself.”
The tweet had received over 44 retweets, 78 likes, at the time of writing.
On the same day, another social media user published a similar allegation: “Jaffar Khan Mandokhel, the brother of Justice Jamal Mandokhail, with Nawaz Sharif.”
The tweet has been viewed over 2,000 times on Twitter, to date.
Fact
In reality, official documents confirm that the judge and the politician are not siblings.
The politician Jaffar Khan Mandokhel told Geo Fact Check over the phone that he has three brothers and two sisters.
“The judge is not even from my sub-tribe,” he said, adding that his brothers' names were Shahabuddin Khan Mandokhel, Humayun Mandokhel and Dawood Khan Mandokhel.
He then shared his Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) and driver’s license with Geo Fact Check. His father’s name is Haji Saad Ullah Khan Mandokhel, as listed on both documents. While the websites of the Balochistan High Court and Supreme Court of Pakistan state that Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail’s father’s name is Feroz Khan.
Separately, Geo Fact Check contacted a relative of the politician, who confirmed on the condition of anonymity, that Jaffar Khan Mandokhel is not a close relative of the judge.
“They are not even first cousins,” he added, over the phone.
With additional reporting by Nadia Khalid.
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