The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Monday rejected a video circulating on social media that purportedly showed Defence Minister Khawaja Asif comparing Pakistan's progress with India, clarifying that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader had made no such remarks. The ministry said Asif had not made any such statement and shared the purported clip on its official X account to highlight that it was fabricated.

The nearly one-minute video appeared to show the defence minister speaking at a press conference aired by a major news channel. In the clip, the speaker purportedly urged citizens to assess the country's situation and compared the progress of Pakistan and India since their independence. The video circulated widely on social media and was also picked up by Indian media outlets, including News18, which published a report based on the purported remarks.

Taking to X, the information ministry said: "This news is FAKE and the voice in the video is AI-generated." Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has not given any such statement. Please verify news from official sources before sharing, it added.

Political analysts and security experts have increasingly warned about the growing threat of deepfake technology and artificial intelligence manipulation in political discourse across South Asia. Officials have urged the public and digital media platforms to exercise extreme caution, report malicious content promptly, and rely strictly on verified state channels for official policy updates.