Fact-check: False claim links BBC Urdu photo to Sharif family
The 2019 article actually reported on the mistreatment of transgender persons during British colonial rule in South Asia
Updated Wednesday May 20 2026
Social media users are sharing a black and white photograph published by BBC Urdu, claiming it shows Pakistani former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s mother and grandmother, who allegedly worked as local musicians in Amritsar, India, before moving to Pakistan.
The claim is false.
Claim
A user on X (Twitter) shared the image, which shows two women standing holding a drum. The caption states: “Share this post so people can understand what the Sharif family’s business used to be.”
The post further alleges that the women in the photograph are Nawaz Sharif’s mother and grandmother, and claims they played the dholki (drum) in the streets of Amritsar.
At the time of writing, the post had received 16,401 views, 780 likes, and 465 reposts.
The image continues to circulate on X and Facebook.
Fact
The viral image was taken from an unrelated BBC Urdu article and falsely linked to the Sharif family.
Geo Fact Check conducted a reverse image search and traced the photograph to a BBC Urdu article published on June 1, 2019, by journalist Soutik Biswas. The report actually discussed the mistreatment of transgender persons during British colonial rule in South Asia.
The black and white photograph shared in the viral posts appeared in the article alongside a caption referring to performers and folk musicians from the transgender community. The article made no mention of the Sharif family.
It also did not identify the women in the image as relatives of politician Nawaz Sharif, nor did it make any reference to his mother or grandmother.
The actual image was published by Bridgeman Images, which identified it as an image of a dancer and singer in the 1890s.
The photo can be seen here.
Verdict: The image has no connection to Nawaz Sharif or his family. It originates from a BBC Urdu news feature on the transgender community in British India and has been miscaptioned and misrepresented on social media.
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