Khawaja Asif making remarks in National Assembly on military defeats of Pakistan Army

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team has reviewed this content and determined that it is false.

To reach this conclusion, the iVerify Pakistan team investigated the video by corroborating it with what Defence Minister Khawaja Asif actually said in the National Assembly (NA) session on June 23, 2024.

Several posts circulating on social media platform X on June 23 shared a video of Asif talking in the NA about the Pakistan Army’s military defeats and why they were not held accountable. However, the video is dubbed over and not what the minister actually said.

Debate in the NA on the budget for the financial year 2025 opened on June 20. The sessions were marked with barbs and confrontations between the treasury and opposition benches. Many from the opposition benches also called for greater clarity on the defence budget and more details on its expenditure.

The session on June 23 saw loud clamouring and a ruckus from the opposition benches against the government’s newly announced counter-terrorism campaign, Operation Azm-i-Istehkam.

HOW IT STARTED

On June 23, 2024, PTI supporter and self-described columnist Naseem Khaira shared a 13-second video clip on X of the defence minister, heeding others to listen to what Asif was saying.

In the clip, Asif can be heard saying: “They lost the war in 1971. Did you ask them that you lost the 1971 war? Did you ask them that they declared a fake victory in 1965? They lost Siachen, did you ask them? They lost Kargil. did you ask them?”

The post did not mention where or when Asif was speaking but the video showed that it was in the June 23 NA session at 1:09pm.

The post received over 70,000 views.

The post was also shared here, here and here.

METHODOLOGY

A fact check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality and keen public interest in the matter since it pertained to the defence minister talking critically about the military.

Investigation of the clip showed certain inconsistencies. The video and audio in the clip did not sync. Furthermore, the video did not have any background noise of hooting and slogans from the opposition benches which was strange since the June 23 session was marred by interruptions during treasury member speeches.

The clip was also not linear and had a cut at the 7-second mark which the audio does not line up with.

Corroborating the footage from the NA’s June 23 stream on its YouTube channel showed that the speech was dubbed over and not what Asif actually said.

The content of what the defence minister actually said beginning from the 1:09:37-mark is reproduced below:

“They are doing protest against the martyrs. They are protesting against the Pakistani Army which is making sacrifices against terrorism. Still today they have not moved away from the stance of May 9 and are standing by it.”

The defence minister’s speech criticising the opposition had come after it expressed concerns about the newly announced counter-terrorism operation and called on the military to take Parliament into confidence on the matter.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim that a viral 13-second video clip of the defence minister asking in the NA why the Pakistan Army is not held accountable for its military defeats is false.

Asif said no such thing which can be seen from the NA June 23 stream on YouTube and the viral clip is clearly dubbed over and edited.

Evidence and References

June 23, 2024, National Assembly YouTube stream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoANkBGU4K8