This video was altered to add the voice of a man ridiculing ousted Pakistan PM
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on April 13, 2022 at 11:40
- Updated on April 13, 2022 at 11:49
- 3 min read
- By AFP Pakistan
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"Now keep taking live calls, the party has just started," reads an Urdu-language Facebook post alongside a laughing emoji.
The video, viewed more than 2.5 million times, appears to show a man insulting Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan during a phone-in.
The Facebook post was shared on April 4, one day after Khan foiled an attempt to boot him from office by getting the president to dissolve the national assembly and call a snap election.
But the Supreme Court deemed his actions illegal and ordered the assembly to reconvene and vote. Khan was subsequently ousted on April 10, Pakistan's first prime minister to lose office through a vote of no confidence.
The video appears to show a caller who identifies himself as Muhammad Yaqub Qureshi referring to the political turmoil.
"Instead of facing the no-confidence motion, you ran away on the pretext of Article 5. What is the reason for it?" he says.
Article 5 of Pakistan's constitution refers to loyalty to the state, which Khan's party invoked when challenging opposition seeking a no-confidence vote against him.
The caller adds: "Secondly, there is no sign of shame on your face. You have no feeling for the people and are clinging on to power. Like a monkey, you are clinging on to power."
Khan appears to listen patiently, apparently bemused by the man's remarks.
Doctored video
Some social media users appeared to believe the video showed a genuine caller speaking to Khan.
"Imran Khan really is a king. Had there been someone else in his place, they would have been furious," one person commented.
"I salute his patience. This is called respect and justice that the person was given the right to share his full thoughts," another said.
The same video was also shared on Facebook here, here and here.
However, the video has been doctored.
The footage was taken from a phone-in on April 4 streamed live on Khan's official Facebook page. It was also aired by local news outlets.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading posts (left) and the video aired by City 42 news channel (right).
Footage from the 2:02 mark of City 42's clip corresponds with the misleading video from its 01:25 mark, except for the audio.
In the original clip, the caller says: "I request that you save my phone number, I am a relative of Shah Mehmood Qureshi (former foreign minister). I am from Cholistan, where people and animals drink from the same pond."
The caller says he supports Khan and criticises opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, whose brother Shehbaz Sharif replaced Khan as prime minister on April 11.
The same exchange can be seen in broadcasts of the phone-in by various media outlets, including Independent Urdu and ARY News.
AFP previously debunked misinformation ahead of Khan's removal from office here and here.
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