Fierce fighting broke out along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border around mid-October, resulting in at least 18 deaths and injuries to over 360 persons.
The conflict was triggered after Pakistan accused Afghanistan of harbouring militants from the Tehreek‑e‑Taliban Pakistan; in turn, Afghan forces claimed Pakistani strikes killed nine of their soldiers and captured border posts. Following the escalation, the two sides agreed to a 48-hour ceasefire starting October 15, with talks brokered by Qatar and Turkey.
In the above context, a video is being widely shared on social media in which Defence Minister Rajnath Singh can be allegedly seen saying, “Where those leaders have gone now who would say that India failed in Operation Sindoor? See, today, Prime Minister Modi has purchased the army of Afghanistan’s Taliban and now, through them, they are punishing Pakistan in such a way that it was not even given in 1971. PM Modi is not just killing terrorists in Afghanistan but also punishing Pakistanis with the use of the same terrorists who were being safeguarded by Pakistan. PM Modi is aiming at two targets with the same arrow. You should know that the Akhand Bharat’s image that we have put in the Rajya Sabha has both Pakistan and Afghanistan, and if both of them kill each other, then our dreams will soon come true.” (Translated from Hindi)
The one-minute video is shared with a caption that reads, “While addressing RSS 100-year celebrations, Rajnath Singh openly confesses that India is making Afghanistan Taliban fight against Pakistan for dollars. Hindutva’s ultimate agenda is to engulf both Pakistan and Afghanistan to create Akhand Bharat. (sic)”
SouthCheck found that the claim is false. The video has been AI-manipulated.
We noticed an ANI logo in the top right corner of the video. Using this information, we searched using appropriate keywords and found the same video shared by ANI on October 18.
The video was shared with a caption that reads, “Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh launches all-out attack on Pakistan | Full Speech”. In the entire video, we could not find Rajnath Singh saying anything similar to the viral video. The original speech is 23:30 minutes long.
We further found a report published by the India Channel 365 on October 18 about the same speech by the defence minister. According to the video, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, during the launch of the first batch of BrahMos missiles from the Lucknow unit, warned Pakistan that every inch of its territory is now within BrahMos range. He said the successful domestic production marks a new chapter in India’s defence capability.
How was the original video manipulated?
On closely observing the video, we noticed that it has artificial and inconsistent features that are seen in videos manipulated using AI (Artificial Intelligence). Rajnath Singh's teeth seem to disappear and reappear between frames. His eyes look unusually shiny and he blinks rather slowly. At one point, his lip colour abruptly changes. The overall delivery of the speech is monotonous, lacking natural changes in intonation or pitch present in a real human voice. A static noise can be heard throughout the audio track. We also noted that the lips of the subject sometimes move faster than expected for the syllables being heard.
We analysed the video using the AI detection tool, Eleven Labs. The tool said that the video was 72 per cent AI-generated.