Fact-check: False claim that Malaysian PM gifted PM Shehbaz a book about Imran Khan
TV News telecasted book launch ceremony, which clearly showed Prime Minister Shehbaz being presented with Malaysian PM Ibrahim's book and not one on Imran Khan
Updated Tuesday Oct 14 2025
Some social media users appear to believe the claim that during Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's official visit to Malaysia earlier this month, Malaysian Prime Minister Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim gifted Sharif a book about former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan.
The claim is incorrect. The video has been edited to give a false impression.
Claim
On October 6, a TikTok user posted a seven-second video which purportedly shows the Malaysian prime minister handing over a book to Pakistani PM Shehbaz during the latter’s visit to Malaysia from October 5 to 7. The book, as per social media users, was titled "Let There Be Justice: The Political Journey of Imran Khan" by B J Sadiq.
At the time of writing, the video had been viewed over 321,000 times, liked over 20,800 times and shared more than 2,700 times.
Several social media accounts commented under the TikTok video believing the claim to be authentic.
Similar posts were also shared on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram here, here and here.
Fact
In reality, the book being shown to the Pakistani prime minister by his Malaysian counterpart is not related to the former prime minister Khan. It is in fact an Urdu translation of a book written by the Malaysian prime minister himself.
A clip was later taken from the event and edited to make it seem like the book being shown was about Pakistani politician Khan.
On October 6, the official X (Twitter) account of the Government of Pakistan showed the Malaysian prime minister handing over an Urdu translation of "Script: For a Better Malaysia An Empowering Vision and Policy Framework for Action" written by Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim himself.
The same was reported by Bernama, the news agency of the government of Malaysia, and the Associated Press of Pakistan, the government news agency of Pakistan, that the Pakistani prime minister was presented with a translation of Script during his visit.
The news articles can be read here and here.
Furthermore, PTV News also telecasted the book launch ceremony, which clearly showed PM Shehbaz being presented with Ibrahim’s book and not one on Khan. The PTV broadcast from that day can be seen here.
Verdict: The viral video is edited. The Malaysian prime minister did not gift PM Shehbaz a book written about former prime minister Khan.
Follow us on @GeoFactCheck on X (Twitter) and @geo_factcheck on Instagram. If our readers detect any errors, we encourage them to contact us at [email protected]