Clip of market in Pakistan shared with false claim it shows 'immigrants in UK'

Published on March 20, 2024 at 08:48
3 min read
By Asma HAFIZ, AFP India

A video showing a crowded market in Pakistan has been shared with a false claim it shows a city in the United Kingdom and the purported effects of "mass immigration". The original video identifies its location as the Resham Gali bazaar in Hyderabad in southern Pakistan. A shopkeeper in the bazaar has also confirmed to AFP it was filmed in the market.

"The British city of Bradford is completely unrecognisable due to mass immigration. The picture is the same in many other European cities," reads part of the post that was shared on X here on March 5, 2024.

The post includes a video that shows a bustling market with Muslim women in burqas and abayas walking down the street.

Screenshot of false X post taken on March 5, 2024

The claim circulated about a week before new immigration rules disallowing overseas health and social care staff from bringing their family dependents to the United Kingdom came into force on March 11 (archived link).

It was part of a raft of measures unveiled by the UK government in December 2023 to lower immigration figures, which also included raising the minimum salary threshold for a skilled worker visa.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's office has described the changes as "the biggest clampdown on legal migration ever".

The video was shared alongside a similar claim elsewhere on Facebook here, here and on X here.

But the claim is false. The video was in fact taken at the Resham Gali bazaar located in Hyderabad, Pakistan.

Video from Pakistan

Through keyword search and a Google reverse image search of one of the keyframes from the video, a longer version of the false video was found on this YouTube channel (archived link).

The video's headline reads: "Walking tour of Hyderabad Pakistan, walking through Shahi Bazar, Resham Bazar."

The 22-second clip shared with the false claim can be seen at the beginning of this 48-minute 31-second long video.

The visual clues seen in the video shared in the false post -- including a prominent signboard of a jewellery shop that goes by the name of Sakhi Jewellers -- match those seen in the YouTube video.

Below is a screenshot comparison of a keyframe from the clip shared in false posts (left) and a keyframe from the YouTube video (right), with similarities highlighted by AFP:

Screenshot comparison of a keyframe from the video shared in false posts (left) and a keyframe from the YouTube video (right), with similarities highlighted by AFP

A keyword search on YouTube showed another video of the same place which shows similar surroundings and shops at the 1:12 mark (archived link).

Awais Shaikh -- who works at a jewellery shop adjacent to Sakhi Jewellers called Dhanak Jewellers -- confirmed the location of the video.

"The video is from Resham Gali of Hyderabad and Sakhi Jeweller is just nearby to us," he told AFP.

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