Doctored video spreads after Pakistan military spokesperson's criticism of Imran Khan
- Published on December 25, 2025 at 04:33
- 3 min read
- By Rimal FARRUKH, AFP Pakistan
After a Pakistan military spokesperson appeared to describe criticism of the army from jailed former prime minister Imran Khan and his supporters as "barking" from a dog, a video was shared in posts falsely claiming it showed one of the former leader's allies turning the insult into a point of pride. The video was altered from a speech the ally -- the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province -- gave on December 7 and was flagged as manipulated by an AI-detection tool.
The video of Sohail Khan Afridi, the Pakistan-Tehreek-e Insaf (PTI) chief minister of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was viewed more than 100,000 times after being shared on X on December 7, 2025.
Addressing a crowd of PTI supporters, he appears to say: "ISPR Sir, you called Imran Khan a dog, a dog is an innocent animal. I would even sacrifice my life for Imran Khan. We are devoted to the love of Imran. Even the dogs living on our beloved’s [referring to Khan's] street are dearer to us than our own parents. If you call my leader a dog, we will love him even more."
His comments are repeated in the video's caption.
They appear to be a reaction to a military spokesperson's remarks two days earlier about jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, who was initially a strong backer of the country's powerful military leadership but has since accused the armed forces of orchestrating his ouster and downfall in 2022 (archived link).
Pakistan's Geo News reported Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudry had castigated the PTI founder and his supporters "anti-army's rhetoric", calling Khan a "mentally ill person" who had become a "serious national security threat" (archived link).
He also reportedly dismissed online attacks on the military as akin to a "barking dog" that did not warrant worry.
The video was also shared in similar Facebook and X posts.
"No person of a Halal race can say such a thing, what can we make of these dishonourable people of the country for whom Imran's dog is dearer to him than his parents? Curse on such dishonourable people and curse those who consider them as their leaders," read a comment on one of the circulating posts.
Another read: "Dude, this is the whole party, it's for the mentally ill."
But there have been no official reports of Afridi making the comments.
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to corresponding footage posted on the PTI's official YouTube channel on December 7 (archived link).
The falsely shared video corresponds to the section beginning at the 2:35:54 mark of the PTI footage, a livestream of a speech Afridi made on the same day.
Afridi's comments in this section of the speech, however, differ from what is shown in the false posts. His voice is also different to how it sounds in the falsely shared video.
At the corresponding section of the speech, Afridi in fact says: "I congratulate Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Insaf Youth Wing, Insaf Student Federation, Insaf Doctors Forum, Insaf Lawyers Forum, as well as our minority and other wings on holding a successful rally.
"I also thank all of you for giving me this honour because of Imran Khan."
He addresses the military spokesperson's remarks later in the speech, saying: "The DG of an institution did a press conference and used inappropriate words against me but I am from a Pashtun tribal area, I have not been raised to hurl abuses. I have been taught to love Pakistan and all of Pakistan's institutions."
Afridi's comments were also covered by local media (archived link).
The altered audio and different voice suggest the video has been manipulated with the help of AI.
AFP ran the clip through the University of Buffalo's deepfake-o-meter tool which determined it was likely generated using AI, returning a "fake probability" of 100 percent (archived here and here).
Copyright © AFP 2017-2025. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.
Contact us
