Fact check: Catering guideline of US club — where Imran’s sons dined — on halal food is fake
Multiple users on social media platform X have been sharing a purported document since Thursday, titled “catering guidelines” from the Capitol Hill Club in Washington, DC — where PTI founder Imran Khan’s sons recently dined during their visit to the US capital — claiming the club does not serve halal food. However, the document is fake.
Earlier this month, Imran’s sons — Sulaiman Khan, 28, and Kasim Khan, 26 — kicked off a campaign calling for their father’s release from prison. The siblings are currently in the US and holding engagements with lawmakers for this purpose in Washington, DC.
On July 25, the X account of PML-N Digital shared a post with an image of the two siblings at Capitol Hill Club, a private clubhouse in Washington, DC, with Republican Congressman Joe Wilson.
The post was captioned: “Imran Niazi’s sons’ illicit feasting”, with an additional claim: “Capitol Hill Club, where Kasim and Sulaiman ate, doesn’t even have halal food available.”
The post also shared an alleged document claiming to show the club’s catering guidelines.
The last paragraph of the document reads: “If the guaranteed number declines significantly, for the original expecteal guests should reserve the right to change the room to a more appropriate size. We don’t offer halal or Kosher food as per restaurant policy”
The post was shared at 11:32am, and the account is followed by PML-N’s official X account.
A similar post featuring the same alleged document and caption was shared a day earlier, on July 24, by an X user who is a PTI critic, according to his past posts.
The caption of his post said: “The biggest proof has arrived. Imran’s sons ate at the Capitol Hill Club, this is the club’s menu card, it details the food and also states that halal and kosher are not served in the club. So the meat was pork, the youth are indulging in forbidden food and lying.”
His post received over 63,000 views.
The alleged document and caption were further amplified by a regional PML-N official on X.
Pro-PML-N accounts also shared the same post, as can be seen here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
Pro-military accounts also circulated the claim as can be seen here and here.
A social media influencer also shared the alleged document on X.
Additionally, it was shared on Facebook here and here.
A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its high virality, keen public interest in Imran’s sons and to address the potential harmful impact of such rumours about them.
Reviewing the document via fake image and AI detection tools such as Fake Image Detector showed that it flagged it as being “computer-generated or modified” while another version of the tool said the authenticity of the document was 25 per cent with the overall score at 66pc, which indicates a “moderate likelihood of manipulation”.
The menus, uploaded on the club's website, do not mention that it does not serve halal or kosher food.
www.dawn.com