A viral video showing Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s remark on the Indian government has gone viral with the claim that he admitted that India hasn’t seen a government as “strong and iron-willed” in the last 73 years.
However, we found that the viral video is a smaller version of a longer video, in which Khan can be heard saying, “If Pakistan needs a stronger army, then it needs it today. And why is it needed? Because our neighbouring country...in 73 years India didn’t have a government like it has today...the government that is totalitarian, racist, anti-Muslim, anti-Islam, anti-Pakistan...never has such a government been formed...and what they are doing to Kashmiris...”
CLAIM
Right-wing author and commentator Shefali Vaidya tweeted a 32-second-long video and wrote: “You cannot have a more ringing endorsement of @narendramodi govt than this. Your sworn enemy publicly admitting that in 73 years India had never had a government as strong and iron-willed as this! [sic.]”
Chetan Bragta, IT Cell head and convener of BJP’s Himachal Pradesh unit, also tweeted the video, saying: “Imran Khan said Pakistan needs powerful military because India has not got such powerful government in 73 years.”
Opindia, too, published an article on the basis of the viral video.
Several Twitter and Facebook users shared the video with the same claim.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
When we looked at the viral video carefully, we noticed a logo saying ‘92’. We then searched on YouTube, using keywords ‘Imran khan headlines 92 Modi’, and came across a bulletin uploaded by ‘92 News HD’ on 26 December 2020.
At 0:56 minutes, one can hear Imran Khan talking about building a stronger army and referring to India. Since the bulletin doesn’t give the full context, we ran another keyword search on the YouTube channel of ‘92 News HD.’
We found a 32-minute bulletin that the channel uploaded on 26 December 2020. At 05:56 minutes, Imran Khan said:
“If Pakistan needs a stronger army, then it needs it today. And why is it needed? Because our neighbouring country...in 73 years India didn’t have a government like it has today...the government that is totalitarian, racist, anti-Muslim, anti-Islam, anti-Pakistan..never has such a government been formed...and what they are doing to Kashmiris.”Imran Khan, Pakistan Prime Minister
The same speech was also uploaded on the YouTube channel of Pakistan, based on an Express News’ report the same day. At 06:05 minutes, one can hear Pakistan PM making the same remarks.
Further, a Dawn article, dated 26 December 2020, mentioned that Pakistan’s Prime Minister was addressing an event in nation’s Chakwal, where he made the remark on the present Indian government.
Evidently, social media users shared a video of Imran Khan without giving full context of his remark on the Indian government.
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