Claim: A viral video shows Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif praising India for its progress in technology, infrastructure and the economy while criticising Pakistan’s governance and development.
Verdict: False. The video is AI-manipulated.
What is actually in the original footage?
The original footage circulating alongside the fact-check does not contain the remarks about India’s development that appear in the viral clip. The authentic footage shows Asif discussing Pakistan’s development during the 1960s, including the lack of development projects in Pakistani cities and shortcomings in the country’s rail infrastructure. This indicates that genuine footage of the Pakistani minister was repurposed and altered to create a new narrative. A viral video circulating on social media purportedly shows Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif comparing India’s development favourably with Pakistan’s and questioning Pakistan’s record on democracy, governance and internal security. In the clip, Asif allegedly says that although India and Pakistan became independent around the same time, their trajectories are different, with India having built a reputation through technology, infrastructure and its economy. He is also purportedly heard criticising the situation in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. However, Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MoIB) has rejected the video as fake and said that Asif did not make the statements attributed to him. According to the ministry, the viral clip was generated or manipulated using artificial intelligence, including an AI-generated voice.
What did Pakistan’s government say?
Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued a clarification stating that the defence minister had not made the statement attributed to him. The ministry specifically described the circulating clip as AI-generated/manipulated propaganda and said the voice attributed to Asif had also been generated using artificial intelligence. The clarification came after the video spread across social media, with several accounts presenting it as evidence that Pakistan’s defence minister had publicly acknowledged India’s development while criticising his own country.
Why is the video misleading?
The viral video combines real footage of Khawaja Asif with an altered audio track. That makes the clip particularly deceptive because the person shown in the video is genuinely Asif, but the words attributed to him do not correspond to what he said in the original footage. There is also no evidence in the available reporting that Asif made the quoted remarks praising India’s technology, infrastructure or economic progress. Instead, Pakistan’s information ministry explicitly denied that he made such a statement.
What is the context?
The video emerged amid heightened India-Pakistan tensions and renewed scrutiny of Khawaja Asif’s public statements. Asif has previously made strongly worded remarks about India. In July, for example, he compared protesters in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir with India and described them as enemies. That context may have made the fabricated video appear more credible to social-media users, but it does not authenticate the remarks in the viral clip.
Conclusion
The viral video does not show Khawaja Asif praising India or making the critical remarks attributed to him. Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has confirmed that the clip is AI-generated/manipulated, including an artificially generated voice. The original footage shows Asif discussing Pakistan’s own development and infrastructure issues. The viral video has been manipulated using AI to falsely attribute pro-India remarks to Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif.