Fact-check: Old video of Khawaja Asif resurfaces out of context

A video clip circulating on social media claims that Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Defence Khawaja Asif was heckled and threatened with a knife during his recent visit to China, where he attended the 22nd Meeting of Ministers of Defence of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

The claim is incorrect.

Claim

On June 26, a user on X (formerly Twitter) shared a 53-second video of Khawaja Asif with the caption: "In a shocking scene during the SCO [Shanghai Cooperation Organization] summit, Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif was heckled and threatened in Tianjin's metro station by none other than a Khalistani operative. The reason cited is unpaid dues."

The 53-second footage shows Asif travelling in a subway train.

At the time of writing, this post had been viewed over 188,000 times, reposted over 550 times and liked over 1,700 times.

Identical claims were shared on Facebook and elsewhere on X too.

Fact

The video is neither recent nor related to any incident during the SCO summit in China last month.

Geo Fact Check conducted a reverse image search and traced the footage to November 11, 2024, in London. At that time, Khawaja Asif, who held the defence portfolio then as well, was heckled while travelling on a train in London. During that incident, he was harassed by another man and threatened with a knife.

Several Pakistani media outlets reported the attack on the minister. Geo News' report can be read here.

No such incident has been reported during or after the SCO summit in June, when Asif travelled to China.

Verdict: The video is old and unrelated to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.

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