A bystander listens Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan addressing the nation on television, in Karachi on March 4, 2021, after Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi announced that Khan would seek a confidence vote in the National Assembly. ( AFP / Asif HASSAN)

Video of Pakistan PM's parliament speech shared with misleading budget claim

This article is more than one year old.
Published on July 3, 2021 at 06:12
Updated on July 7, 2021 at 05:01
2 min read
By Wasi MIRZA, AFP Pakistan

A video has been viewed more than one million times in multiple social media posts that claim it shows Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan delivering a speech to parliament in June 2021 after his government announced its budget for the next fiscal year. But the video has been shared in a misleading context: it actually shows Khan speaking to parliament in March 2021 after winning a vote of confidence in the lower house.

The video was posted here on Facebook on June 29, 2021. It has been viewed more than one million times.

The post's caption reads: "Prime Minister Imran Khan’s address in the National Assembly after passing the budget."

Screenshot of the video with the false claim. Taken on July 2, 2021.

On June 11, 2021, Pakistan announced a budget of 8.4 trillion rupees ($54 billion) for the next fiscal year, AFP reported.

The budget was passed by parliament on June 29, 2021, Pakistani media outlet Dawn News reported here.

The video was shared alongside a similar claim on Facebook here, here, here and here; on Twitter here; and on YouTube here and here.

The clip has been shared in a misleading context: it shows a speech by Khan from March 2021.

A reverse image search found the same video was posted here on March 6, 2021 by Khan’s political party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

The original video was captioned: “Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan Speech at National Assembly Islamabad (06.03.21)”.

Below are screenshots of the footage in the misleading posts (L) and the video posted by the PTI (R):

Screenshots of Imran Khan's speech with the false claim. Taken on July 3, 2021

Screenshots of Imran Khan's speech posted by PTI. Taken on July 3, 2021

Khan did give a speech on June 30, 2021, one day after the new budget was passed.

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