Fact-check: AI-generated audio falsely shows KP CM calling TTP his 'brothers'

Multiple online accounts are sharing a video clip that allegedly shows Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi calling members of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also referred to as Fitna al-Khawarij, his “brothers”.

The claim is false. Afridi made no such statement.

Claim

On October 5, a user on X (Twitter) shared a 33-second video clip of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi while addressing a rally in Kohat.

In the clip, Afridi can be heard saying: “My Pashtuns, the mindset within the state is treating you in a way that is turning your own brothers [TTP] against you. Your brothers come for your freedom, but they launch drones at them. Your brothers come to help you, while those making decisions behind closed doors launch operations against your brothers. They label our brothers as ‘Khawarij’ and other such names.”

The user captioned the video: “Sohail Afridi has called the TTP his brothers. Shame on PTI, shame on the provincial government, and shame on these people.”

At the time of writing, the post had been viewed 140,000 times, liked 1,000 times and reshared 503 times.

Fact

Sohail Afridi did not make these remarks about Fitna al-Khawarij. The audio in the viral clip was generated using artificial intelligence (AI) and added to an authentic video of the chief minister.

The footage corresponds to the 1:23 timestamp in a video posted on Afridi’s official Facebook account. The same section of his speech was identified by matching his hand movements and those of people around him.

In the original recording, Afridi can be heard discussing the TTP and saying: “When the plan was being made, we were on the streets. We had said that they [TTP] should not be resettled. This policy of yours is wrong. Once again, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will be drenched in blood. Once again, the blood of our Pashtuns will be shed. Once again, we will be displaced. Once again, excuses will be made for military operations. Drone attacks will be carried out against us. Our businesses will be destroyed. Our innocent civilians will be killed. Our police officers will be killed. Our army officers will be martyred.”

The speech can be viewed here.

PTI politician Junaid Akbar also confirmed the audio to be fake, in a message to Geo Fact Check.

Additionally, Geo Fact Check analysed the audio from the viral clip using Hiya, a deepfake voice detection tool. It gave the recording an authenticity score of 20 out of 100, indicating that it was highly likely to have been AI-generated.

The audio was also analysed using DeepFake-o-Meter, a detection tool developed by the University at Buffalo. Its detection models indicated a “high” probability that the audio was AI-generated.

Verdict: The viral video is fabricated. Chief Minister Sohail Afridi did not refer to TTP militants as his “brothers” or make the remarks attributed to him. AI-generated audio was added to an authentic video of Afridi’s October 5 address in Kohat.

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