Fact-check: Viral video falsely claims Afghan refugee confessed to political violence in Pakistan

Pakistan has been expelling both undocumented and documented Afghan refugees since November 2023.

During the ongoing deportation drive, Pakistani officials have repeatedly said that Afghan nationals were involved in violent political protests.

Recently, a video has started circulating on social media claiming to show an Afghan refugee admitting he damaged public property on the instructions of Pakistani opposition leaders.

The claim in the video, however, is false.

Claim

On April 6, a user on X (formerly Twitter) shared a 28-second clip with the caption: “An Afghan citizen deported from Pakistan after returning to Afghanistan is confessing that some Pakistani nationalist leaders used him, and other refugees, to vandalise government property during their rallies and protests.”

In the clip, a man speaks in Pashto. The video had over 113,000 views, 1,000 reposts, and 2,600 likes at the time of writing.

Fact

The video is from November 2023, it is not recent, and the man says nothing about vandalising property.

Using Google reverse image search, Geo Fact Check traced the original video to November 12, 2023, when it was shared by Khalid Zadran, spokesperson for the Kabul Police Command. The full version is 1 minute 38 seconds long.

Zadran captioned the video in Pashto, noting that it was recorded at a temporary refugee camp in Kabul set up for returnees from Pakistan.

In the full video, the man tells an Afghan police officer that he delayed returning to Afghanistan until his crops were harvested. He adds that all Afghan refugees were being expelled, even those with valid documents, and urges the Afghan government to request more time from Pakistan for refugees to wrap up their affairs.

He also says: “I used to attend political gatherings of Mehmood Khan Achakzai by abandoning my cart and giving up the daily wage of Rs300 just because he was a Pashtun.” Achakzai is the chairman of the Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) in Pakistan.

Nowhere in the full video does the man mention damaging public property or participating in violent protests.

Verdict: The viral video has been taken out of context. The Afghan refugee does not confess to vandalism or mention being used by political parties for violent protests.

Follow us on @GeoFactCheck on X (formerly Twitter) and @geo_factcheck on Instagram. If our readers detect any errors, we encourage them to contact us at [email protected].