A photo of Pakistan’s Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari is circulating in social media posts claiming she was the only person wearing a face mask at a meeting with the Taliban foreign minister. The claim is misleading; while most delegates in the photo are not wearing masks, the original image has been cropped to remove a member of the Afghan delegation and people in the background who were wearing face coverings.
“Pakistan Human Rights Minister @ShireenMazari1 was the only one with a full mask on face during a meeting with Taliban’s Foreign Minister Ameer Khan Muttaqi,” reads a tweet posted on November 13.
The photo shows Pakistan’s Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari and various other delegates posing for a photo. Mazari appears to be the only person in the photo with a mask covering her nose and mouth.
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Screenshots of the tweet sharing the photo also circulated on Facebook here, here, here and here.
However, the claim is misleading.
A reverse image search found a wider version of the photo published on November 13 in a report by Pakistani newspaper The Nation.
“The Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser yesterday held a meeting with visiting Acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan Amir Khan Muttaqi to discuss matters relating to mutual interest,” The Nation reported.
The wider photo shows a man wearing a face mask who has been cropped out of the photo shared on social media.
Several people in the background wearing masks have also been removed from the picture.
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Mazari also tweeted the wider version of the photo on November 14.
Had an interesting interaction, along with parl colleagues, with Afghan acting FM Muttaqi. Asked him about women working & girls education amongst other issues. He categorically stated they had already re-opened 75% schools & would open rest soon. Wld be no ban on women working pic.twitter.com/h3nEfSBli3
— Shireen Mazari (@ShireenMazari1) November 14, 2021
Pakistan’s Covid-19 response body issued guidelines on the mandatory use of face masks for public gatherings in December 2020.