Fact-check: Claim of a resolution in Australian senate calling for a ban on Pakistani army officers is false

Some online users appeared to believe the claim that a resolution has been tabled in the senate in Australia calling for a “ban” on 53 serving and retired Pakistani military officers for their alleged involvement in “human rights violations”.

The claim is baseless. No such resolution has been moved in the Australian senate.

Claim

On February 17, Adil Raja, a social media user, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, a long block of text which claimed that a resolution tabled in Australian senate proposed banning a large number of Pakistani army and intelligence officers, for their purported role in “gross human rights violations, intervention in political affairs, fascism and atrocities against Australian Pakistanis.”

Raja then alleged that the text of the resolution was publicly available and the resolution now being deliberated upon by the senate’s committee on security and diplomacy.

The user further listed down the names of 53 army officers, retired and serving, including Pakistan’s military chief, who he claimed were likely to be “banned”. The post has been viewed over 800,000 times on X alone, reposted over 5,000 times and liked over 13,000 times, to date.

Similar claims also took off on TikTok here and here.

Fact

An official of the Australian parliament as well as the office of the Australian High Commission in Islamabad have rubbished Raja’s claim.

It is important to note that this X account, @soldierspeaks, has also previously amplified misinformation and disinformation.

When asked if the senate in Australia has passed any resolution urging a ban on Pakistani military officers, the spokesperson of senate’s clerk office in Canberra said “there was nothing” on the parliamentary database to support the claim.

The office also shared a link to the online database of the Australian parliament. Geo Fact Check searched the database and could not find any such resolution. 

Separately, the spokesperson of the Australian High Commission in Islamabad told Geo Fact Check via email that it too was “not aware of any such deliberations” in the senate.

It also added that there was no committee on security and diplomacy in the senate either.

With additional reporting by Muhammad Binyameen Iqbal.

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