Altered video of Indian lawmaker praising Pakistan's diplomacy misleads online
- Published on August 14, 2026 at 08:54
- 4 min read
- By Ayesha MIRZA, AFP Pakistan
The signing of a defence agreement between Pakistan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia in August triggered a series of social media posts falsely claiming to show an Indian opposition politician mocking Prime Minister Narendra Modi while commending their rival neighbour's diplomatic achievements. The video shared online, which has been altered using artificial intelligence, comes from a months-old TV segment about mediating Middle East war talks.
"Pakistan's achievements are being recognised by the neighbours," reads part of an Urdu-language caption of a Facebook video shared on August 10, 2026.
The clip shows Shashi Tharoor, a member of the opposition Congress party who has previously criticised Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) (archived link).
In the footage, Tharoor appears to say: "Pakistan has forces in Bahrain, it has moved closer to Bangladesh. And now this pact happened today, with Turkey also joining it along with Saudi Arabia. So Pakistan is expanding its diplomatic clout.
"And where do we stand today compared to Pakistan? Modi ji visits smaller countries, comes back and does not even give a briefing. Today, India and Indian diplomacy have become completely ineffective, and this is a major concern."
Pakistan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia announced the signing of the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement on August 7 amid violence in the region from Houthi attacks and the US-Iran war (archived link).
Riyadh is looking to strengthen its security ties against the backdrop of the conflict, which has drawn in surrounding nations and disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea.
The war has emboldened Iran and its Houthi allies in Yemen, both of which have attacked Saudi Arabia. Analysts say Washington is now seen as an increasingly unreliable partner.
Pakistan's foreign ministry said the new security pact meant an attack on any member would be regarded as an attack on all, adding it was "intended to strengthen collective deterrence." Turkey later clarified the agreement was not directed at any particular country.
Similar posts quoting Tharoor's supposed commentary on the pact circulated on X and Facebook.
But the video was edited using AI -- the original footage was published months ago in a news programme predating the defence agreement.
"This video is fake; you can watch the full interview on NDTV," Tharoor's press team told AFP in an August 14 WhatsApp message.
Altered clip from old interview
A reverse image search using keyframes from the clip found a longer video aired by Indian broadcaster NDTV on April 9 (archived link).
The United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire on April 8, with both sides claiming victory. Pakistan officials acted as mediators in the talks that led to the truce (archived link).
Nowhere in the NDTV interview did Tharoor criticise Modi or call Indian diplomacy "ineffective".
During the 20-minute segment, Tharoor said he welcomed Pakistan's role in mediating the Middle East war ceasefire, adding that India should celebrate efforts that promote peace.
He described the Indian government's response as "right, mature and sensible" and argued that international relations should not always be viewed as a zero-sum game.
Tharoor urged India to view Pakistan's involvement "as an interested neighbour, not as a critic or a resentful country," saying peace would benefit India through greater stability. He then called for India to play a greater role in shaping the emerging international order and to position itself as the voice of the Global South.
The clip falsely shared on social media contains visual inconsistencies indicative of synthetic content.
Tharoor's voice in the NDTV footage differs from that in the circulating video, and his eye and lip movements appear unnatural and out of sync with his speech. His lip also extends more on one side, indicating some form of manipulation.
An analysis of the video using Hive Moderation, an AI detection tool, confirmed it was 97.2 percent "likely to have AI-generated speech."
Pakistan continued mediating Middle East war talks throughout the spring and summer, helping broker a 60-day framework in June that collapsed within weeks (archived link).
The country's interior minister visited Iran in mid-August to discuss regional security, stability and other developments (archived link).
AFP has previously debunked misinformation about statements from Indian officials regarding Pakistan.
Devesh Mishra contributed to this report.
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