Salimullah Khan Did Not Comment on Violence in Elections Being a Normal Occurrence

A photo card with a quote falsely attributed to writer and professor Salimullah Khan has been spreading on social media. It alleges that Khan stated, “Violence in elections is a very normal occurrence. Rather than grieving over one or two deaths, come together in the interest of a fair election.”

Salimullah Khan

See related Facebook posts here (archive), here (archive), here (archive), and here (archive).

Fact Check

The Rumor Scanner team conducted an investigation and found that Salimullah Khan never made such a statement. Instead, this quote is being falsely disseminated under his name without any credible evidence.

Initially, the team conducted a keyword search but found no reliable sources to support the attribution of this statement to Salimullah Khan.

Further examination of posts and videos on his YouTube channel, Facebook page, and other social media platforms revealed no evidence of such a comment.
Subsequently, to confirm the truth of the matter, the Rumor Scanner team directly contacted Salimullah Khan. He categorically refuted the claim, stating, “The claim is absolutely false. It is an unadulterated rumor, an act of violence pure and simple. I have no reason to make any such remark. I categorically deny having made such a remark. I didn’t make any remark whatsoever on this election, tragedy or fare whatever you want to call it. It is so regrettable.”

Bottom Line

The 12th national parliamentary election in Bangladesh took place on January 7. A photo card falsely claiming that Professor Salimullah Khan made a statement titled “Violence in elections is a very normal occurrence; unite rather than mourn a few deaths for the sake of a fair election” was circulated on Facebook. However, the Rumor Scanner team’s inquiry established that he made no such comment. No trustworthy source corroborated the alleged statement. Moreover, Salimullah Khan himself assured the Rumor Scanner team that the issue is nothing but a rumor.

Therefore, the Facebook claim alleging Professor Salimullah Khan commented that “Violence in elections is a very normal occurrence” is false.

Sources

আরও পড়ুন

spot_img