Authors
A verified Twitter user shared a video of Pakistan PM Imran Khan with this caption: “You cannot have a more ringing endorsement of @narendramodi govt than this. Your sworn enemy publicly admitting that in 73 years India had never had a government as strong and iron-willed as this!”
In the 32-second video clip, PM Khan can be heard saying, “If Pakistan needs a strong army, it is today. And why do we need it? In 73 years…India hasn’t seen a ruling government like this.” The claim received over 2.5K likes and 790 retweets at the time of writing this fact-check.
Facebook users shared this claim as well.
Fact Check/ Verification
A reverse image search of a keyframe from the video on InVid led us to multiple links related to the video in context.
One of them includes a Facebook link to a video published by PTI Baluchistan’s verified account. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is the current ruling political party of Pakistan. Posted on 26 December ‘20, the video is a live stream of PM Khan’s Speech during an event in Chakwal.
The University of Chakwal also posted PM Khan’s live streamed video on their Facebook page.
The video clip in the claim has been edited from this speech and shared without proper context. Continuing where the edited clip cut, the original video shows PM Khan calling India’s current Modi-led government a “totalitarian, racist, anti-Muslim, anti-Islam, and anti-Pakistan.” On watching the entire 28-minute video one can see PM Khan speaking against PM Modi, and not in his favour. The edited clip can be seen from the 4-minute 30-second timestamp in the live stream.
With a relevant keyword search, we found the 92 News HD telecast from where the claim’s video clip was edited (can be seen at the 1-minute timestamp). 92 News is a Lahore-based news channel whose logo and headline runner can be at the bottom of the edited clip. The entire video titled, “I Will Not Let Opposition Target our Army | PM Imran Khan Aggressive Speech Today | 26 December 2020” can be viewed on their Youtube channel.
We compare screenshots of the edited clip in the claim (Left) and 92 News’ telecast of PM Khan’s speech (Right) below.
Dawn, a newspaper based in Pakistan has covered the event as well.
This claim has been debunked in our Hindi fact-check as well.
Conclusion
The claim is misleading to imply that PM Khan was praising the current Indian government in his speech, whereas in reality, he called it “totalitarian and racist.” The original video has been manipulated and shared without proper context.
Result: Misleading
Our Sources
PTI Baluchistan: https://www.facebook.com/PTIBaluchistanOfficial/videos/721739998724424
University of Chakwal: https://www.facebook.com/uochakwal/
92 News HD: https://www.facebook.com/92NewsHD/videos/3413684015396353/
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