Pakistan PM's 'military retreat speech' is doctored
- Published on May 16, 2025 at 11:14
- 3 min read
- By Akshita KUMARI, Masroor GILANI, AFP India, AFP Pakistan
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"Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Khan accepted defeat in Parliament," reads the Hindi-language caption of a clip shared May 10, 2025 on Facebook, misspelling the premier's name and using a popular Pakistani surname.
The video apparently shows Sharif telling parliament in Urdu: "We are retreating in the ongoing war with India. Our armed forces are fighting bravely, but lack of resources, political isolation and the power of the enemy has put us in a quandary."
Similar posts sharing the clip circulated among Indian users elsewhere on Instagram, Facebook, X and Threads the same day US President Donald Trump unexpectedly announced a ceasefire (archived link).
The truce halted four days of intense fighting between the South Asian rivals that killed more than 70 people on both sides (archived link).
Fighter jet, missile, drone and artillery strikes erupted two weeks after gunmen killed 26 people on the Indian-run side of disputed Kashmir in an attack New Delhi blamed on Islamabad. Pakistan denies the accusations (archived here and here).
The ceasefire has held, but the circulating video does not show a genuine speech from Sharif.
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes led to longer footage published May 7 by the Pakistani Urdu-language news channel Samaa TV on YouTube (archived link).
"PM Shehbaz Sharif's Aggressive Speech at National Assembly | India Attack Pakistan | Pak Army Alert!" the title says.
Sharif commends Pakistan's armed forces, saying they thwarted India's strikes that day -- but nowhere in the video does he make the remarks claimed in the false posts.
"With the prayers of 240 million Pakistanis, our brave and valiant Pakistani armed forces gave a befitting reply to the filthy attack by India, turned that dark night into a moonlit night," he said.
"In this attack by India many Pakistanis were martyred including children, women and men. Please pray for them."
The newspaper Pakistan Today, as well as Indian news websites Hindustan Times and Brut India, also covered Sharif's remarks (archived here, here and here).
An analysis of the clip circulating online found several visual inconsistencies suggesting it was doctored.
Sharif's lip movements and hand gestures are unnatural, indicating manipulation using artificial intelligence technology. An AFP journalist in Islamabad confirmed the voice and accent is not Sharif's.
As of May 16, there had been no official reports of Sharif announcing before Pakistan's parliament that the country was retreating.
AFP has debunked a wave of misinformation about the India-Pakistan conflict here.
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