Footage of Pakistani defence minister's speech dubbed with anti-military remarks

"Listen to what Khawaja Asif is saying," read an Urdu-language post published on social media platform X on June 23.

The post -- which has been shared over 4,000 times -- included a video of Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif seemingly criticising the military during a speech in a session of the National Assembly.

"They lost the war in 1971. Did you ask them that they lost the 1971 war? Did you ask them that they declared a fake victory in 1965? They lost Siachen, did you ask them? They lost Kargil. Did you ask them?" he appears to say in the clip.

The wars referenced included some of those where Pakistan lost, such as the one in 1971 when East Pakistan -- backed by India with Soviet support -- fought a war of independence to become Bangladesh. 

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Screengrab of the false post

The false post emerged after the government announced a national campaign to "eradicate extremism and terrorism from the country" called Operation Azm-e-Istehkam (archived link).

The decision came as Pakistan faced a surge in militant attacks following the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan's (TTP) termination of a ceasefire with the government in November 2022.

The TTP is a militant group active in the northwestern part of Pakistan and regularly targets security forces.

The video has been shared alongside similar claims on X,  Facebook and TikTok.

Some social media users appeared to believe the video was genuine. 

"He should be prosecuted, he is barking at the Pakistan Army, we cannot tolerate the disrespect of our army," a user said.

"Khawaja Asif's brilliant analysis on the cowardly Pakistani army," another said.

But the clip's audio was manipulated. Asif was in fact criticising the opposition party in the original video. 

Military campaign

A keyword search on YouTube led to a video published on the official YouTube account of the National Assembly of Pakistan on June 23.

The description of the video says it shows a general budget debate in the lower house of Pakistan's parliament. 

At the 1:09:37 mark, Asif can be heard calling out the political opposition, in particular the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its allied party the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), for not supporting the Azm-e-Istehkam campaign (archived link).

"They are doing protest against the martyrs. They are protesting against the Pakistani Army which is making sacrifices against terrorism. Still today they have not moved away from the stance of May 9 and are standing by it," Asif said. 

Below is a screengrab comparison of the video in the false post (left) and the footage from the National Assembly's YouTube account (right): 

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Screengrab comparison of the video in the false post (left) and the footage from the National Assembly's YouTube account (right)

There appeared to be sounds of shouting in the background as Asif talked, which could not be heard in the false post. The audio in the video in the false post is also out of sync with Asif's lip movements.

Asif did not criticise the military in his remarks. 

A spokesperson for the Pakistani armed forces said on July 23 that the campaign was not a military operation, but rather a "coordinated implementation of updated anti-terrorism policies" and would not entail mass displacements or social disruptions.

Pakistan's opposition parties have raised concerns over the Azm-e-Istehkam operation and demanded that the parliament be first taken into confidence before any such campaign is launched, according to local media reports (archived link).