CLAIM

Viral video of Indian diplomat Shashi Tharoor citing Pakistan’s expanding diplomatic clout after Makkah agreement signing

RATING JUSTIFICATION

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

To reach this conclusion, iVerify Pakistan conducted a visual forensic analysis and a reverse image search to trace the original video.

Multiple people, including journalists and pro-state accounts, have been sharing a video since August 9, 2026, allegedly showing Indian diplomat and Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor talking about Pakistan’s diplomatic influence in the region and comparing it with that of New Delhi after the signing of the Makkah agreement. However, the clip is doctored.

On Aug 8, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye signed a joint defence pact in Makkah, seeking to strengthen the collective security of the three states and empowering member states to treat an attack against one of them as an attack against all. The agreement was signed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Saudi Crown Prince and PM Mohammad bin Salman, and Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Al-Safa Palace.

Islamabad has described the signing of the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement as a “historic pact”, with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar saying the agreement was “open to any country in the region” willing to uphold its principles.

HOW IT STARTED

On Aug 9, an X account that appears to be pro-state, per past posts, shared a clip of Tharoor’s interview on a news channel with the caption: “Pakistan’s successes in the neighbourhood are being acknowledged. After establishing relations with Bahrain, Pakistan has further strengthened its ties with Bangladesh as well. Today, this development has also come to light: Turkey and Saudi Arabia have joined Pakistan in defence agreements, which shows that Pakistan is expanding its diplomatic influence. Meanwhile, Modi returns from visits to small countries without even giving a briefing. The current situation is that India and its diplomacy have become completely ineffective, which is an extremely alarming matter.”

The post racked up 35,000 views.

Here is the transcription of the viral video:

“Pakistan has forces in Bahrain 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 become completely ineffective, and this is a major concern.”

Another X user, who describes himself as an Islamic activist, shared the same video with a similar caption, saying that Tharoor had praised Pakistani diplomacy. His post accumulated about 15,000 views.

Several other people also shared the same clip on X, as seen here, here, here, and here.

Separately, an Instagram user, a London-based journalist as per her bio, posted the clip as well. The caption reads: “Indian politician Shashi Tharoor has criticised what he described as weaknesses in India’s current diplomatic outreach, arguing that New Delhi’s foreign policy has suffered setbacks while Pakistan appears to be gaining greater regional engagement.

“Tharoor’s remarks reflect a wider debate in India about whether the country’s diplomatic strategy is keeping pace with Pakistan’s expanding regional relationships.”

The reel gathered over 7,000 views.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality and keen public interest in the recently-signed defence pact, along with the Indian reaction to the development.

Inspecting the video revealed several audio discrepancies: Tharoor’s tone and delivery in the viral clip were inconsistent with his normal way of speaking and appeared robotic, with unnatural pacing, abrupt pauses and awkward emphasis on certain words.

A reverse image search was subsequently conducted to trace the source of the viral clip, which yielded an X post by Indian media outlet NDTV dated April 9, 2026. “‘What the Pakistanis are doing is working for peace that we also want; I think we should actually be celebrating it’: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor to Vasudha on Pakistan’s role in ceasefire,” the caption reads.

The video shows Tharoor and the news anchor in the same outfits as in the viral clip, thus proving that the former predated the current events. A review of the NDTV footage showed Tharoor talking about Pakistan’s role in facilitating the ceasefire in the Middle East.

Running the video through AI-forensic tools showed that Hive Moderation rated the clip as having a 91 per cent chance of AI-generated speech.

DetectVideo AI also flagged the video as “likely manipulated”, saying “the face-aware deep model branch found manipulation evidence at 87pc probability”.

Lastly, a keyword search conducted to corroborate whether any credible Indian or international media outlets had reported such remarks made by Tharoor yielded no results.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim that a viral video shows Shashi Tharoor commending Pakistan’s growing diplomatic role as compared to India in the wake of the Makkah agreement is false.

The video is doctored and has been dubbed over through AI.

EVIDENCE AND REFERENCES:

April 9, 2026, NDTV X post:
https://x.com/ndtv/status/2042225287199707600