Old video of militant group leader addressing media resurfaces after India-Pakistan ceasefire

Published on May 21, 2025 at 10:08
3 min read
By Akshita KUMARI, AFP India

The founder of an armed group that New Delhi accused of carrying out an attack on tourists in Kashmir did not hold a press conference after India and Pakistan agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire, contrary to posts claiming Islamabad was sheltering him. The video used in the false posts was in fact filmed in January 2017 and he has been imprisoned since 2020 on terror financing charges.

"Hafiz Saeed's statement after ceasefire: Listen!" reads part of the Hindi-language caption of a Facebook video shared on May 15, 2025.

"Can't the United States and President Donald Trump see that the Pakistani army is providing security to international terrorist Hafiz Saeed and the press conference is being held as if it were given by a president or prime minister?"

The video shows the press waiting for and then listening to Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the leader of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba -- a UN-designated terrorist organisation (archived link).

Saeed can be seen saying to the media: "This movement will continue until Kashmir gets independence."

New Delhi has accused Lashkar-e-Taiba of carrying out an attack that killed 26 tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22 (archived link).

India also accused Pakistan of backing those behind the attack -- a charge denied by Islamabad (archived link).

Screenshot of the false Facebook post, captured on May 19, 2025

The video circulated after New Delhi and Islamabad agreed to a ceasefire unexpectedly announced by US President Donald Trump on May 10 (archived link).

The truce brought an end to four days of missile, drone and artillery attacks that killed at least 70 people and sent thousands fleeing, in the worst violence since India and Pakistan’s last open conflict in 1999.

The clip was also shared in similar posts on Facebook, X and Threads that claimed Saeed had held a press conference after the ceasefire was agreed.

"Look at this terrorist, can the terrorist country that gives him shelter be worthy of even a little mercy? Respected Modi, all food, water, trade talks with them should be banned forever," read a comment on one of the posts.

Another said: "The army and the PM don't work in Pakistan, terrorists run the government."

But the video predates India and Pakistan's latest conflict by more than eight years.

Placed under house arrest

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to the same footage published on February 5, 2017 by the verified AP Archive YouTube channel (archived link).

Saeed was placed under house arrest on January 31, 2017.

According to the video's description, Saeed was arrested after the Pakistan government vowed to act against his Jamaat-ud-Dawa charity, which the UN Security Council labelled a "terrorist front group" in 2008.

It says Jamaat-ud-Dawa is a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was allegedly behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks that left nearly 166 people dead.

Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and the AP Archive video (right)

AFP published a similar video on its verified YouTube channel on January 31, 2017 (archived link). AFP reported that Saeed was put under house arrest following increased US pressure on Islamabad to rein-in militant groups (archived link).

He was later jailed in February 2020 on separate terror charges and is serving a 78-year sentence (archived link).

There are no official reports that Saeed has issued any statement about the latest conflict between India and Pakistan.

AFP has debunked a wave of misinformation about the India-Pakistan conflict here.

Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.

E-mail