Claim: A video shows Chief Minister of Punjab Maryam Nawaz placing her hand over the hand of Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir.
Fact: The video is AI-generated.
A Facebook user posted a video (archive) allegedly showing the Chief Minister of Punjab Maryam Nawaz, putting her hand over the hand of Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir. The caption reads: Islam is for your lover only or other women too [sic].”
Recently, Soch Fact Check has debunked a surge of AI-generated content targeting female politicians here, here, here, here, and here.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check analysed the video and found it has all the tell-tale signs of AI generation software.
The soldiers and a woman in the back—who appears to be the Senior Minister of the Government of Punjab Marriyum Aurangzeb—are barely moving and seem stationary in the footage, which is unnatural. Their eyes and facial features are blurred, and zooming into the video, we noted that Aurangzeb’s eyes are unequal in size, suggesting that AI software was probably used to generate this footage as AI has not been able to perfectly replicate human features.
The video slows down when Nawaz moves her hand and places it over Munir’s which suggests the footage has been tampered with in some way. Most importantly, all five fingers on her hand are not visible during this movement, and her hand looks obviously artificial and airbrushed.
Reverse-searching keyframes from the video did not yield photos or videos which could have been used to generate this footage. However, a keyword search led us to this YouTube video posted on 15 February, titled “Maryam Nawaz & COAS General Asim Munir Launch Green Pakistan Initiative.” The video description reads: “Maryam Nawaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir join hands to initiate the Green Pakistan campaign, aiming for a sustainable and eco-friendly future.”
In this footage, at timestamp 0:04, we can see scenes similar to those from the claim video– Nawaz and Munir seated side by side, soldiers in the background and Aurangzeb in red dress. However, the movement in the YouTube video is more natural and fluid than in the video from the claim. Moreover, Nawaz is holding sunglasses in her hands, which is not depicted in the video from the claim, a clear sign that the latter was created using AI generation software.
Soch Fact Check, therefore, concludes the video is AI-generated.
Virality
The Facebook reel was liked 25,500 times and shared 5,400 times.
A TikTok version here (archive) was liked 38,800 times and shared 4060 times.
Conclusion: A video allegedly showing Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz placing her hand over Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir’s hand is AI-generated.
Background image in cover photo: Islamabad 51
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