Claim: Maryam Nawaz refuses to answer a student during a question and answer session when asked about Imran Khan’s imprisonment.
Fact: The claim is false; the clip of the student is from an entirely unrelated television show. Complete footage of the episode revealed that Maryam Nawaz did not appear on the news show at all and the student never asked any questions about Imran Khan.
Facebook user Naveed Afsar shared a video (archive) of a student supposedly questioning Maryam Nawaz about Imran Khan’s imprisonment with the text, “غصہ کس چیز کا ہے؟؟ سوال تو ہوں گے جواب تو دینا پڑے گا”
[Translation: What’s the anger about?? Questions will be asked, and they’ll have to be answered.]
In the video, the student asked, “Imran Khan se mutaliq hai, hum dekhtay hain ke Imran Khan ke cases ko jaan kar adalaton mein latkaya ja raha hai. Aap ko nahi lagta ke khud ko iqtidaar mein rakhnay ke liye aap ne pooray nizaam ko tabah kardiya hai.”
[Translation: This is about Imran Khan. We see that Imran Khan’s cases are being deliberately delayed in the courts. Don’t you think that in order to stay in power, you have destroyed the entire system?]
Maryam Nawaz responded: “Beta yeh sawal nahi siyaasi taqreer thi jo apni ki. Mein yahan siyasi sawalat ka jawab denay nahi aye.”
[Translation: Child, this was not a question; this was a political speech that you just gave. I am not here to answer political questions.]
Maryam Nawaz launches Honhaar Scholarship Programme
In December 2024, the Chief Minister of Punjab Maryam Nawaz, launched the ‘Honhaar Scholarship Programme’, which aims to support students from public sector universities, graduate colleges, and medical colleges. Under the programme, 30,000 scholarships will be awarded annually to students across 68 disciplines.
Recently, the Chief Minister visited universities across Punjab to speak about the programme and award the scholarship to students. News outlets have widely covered the Chief Minister’s tours, with its footage shared across both television and social media platforms.
However, some social media users have repurposed videos from these events and shared them with false claims. The claim being fact-checked in this article was circulated in a similar context.
Fact or Fiction?
At first glance, the video in the claim seemed dubious to us because it is not a wide shot or a clip of a university hall, which is what you would typically see during question-and-answer sessions in such speeches. Instead, two separate clips are running side by side. Therefore, Soch Fact Check suspected that these two clips were likely from different videos, and were edited together.
The clip on the left of the frame shows a student asking a question, and the one on the right, shows Maryam Nawaz’s response.
In the clip of Maryam Nawaz, her lip movements do not match her words, suggesting that either the audio of her voice is originally from a different video, or that multiple audio clips of her voice were spliced. It is also possible that the voice is AI-generated as the tone and timing of the speech indicate artificial generation rather than a natural sound byte.
Crucially, if such a heated exchange took place between a student and the Chief Minister of Punjab, it would have been widely reported in the media. However, a keyword search for such an incident did not yield any news reports, indicating that the video is not authentic.
We then reverse-searched keyframes from both clips to locate the original footage. While we could not find Maryam Nawaz’s video, we found the video of the student who was supposedly questioning her.
The video, titled HUM DEKHEN GEY with Mansoor Ali Khan | 20 Feb 2025 | Hum News, was uploaded to YouTube by Hum News on 20 February. It is from news anchor Mansoor Ali Khan’s show Hum Dekhen Gey, in which he conducted a question-and-answer session at FC College, Lahore.
At 6:09, the female student from the clip in the claim questioned the anchorperson. Maryam Nawaz did not appear at any point in this show, and, therefore, the student could not have questioned her at all. Moreover, in the video being fact-checked, the frame has been flipped. However, several similarities—such as her attire and the surroundings—confirm that this is the same clip of the student that has been used in the video in the claim.
While the student spoke about the PECA Amendment and the country’s ongoing political situation, she did not mention Imran Khan at any point. This confirmed that the question in the viral video was never actually asked. The audio in the claim was most likely doctored; it was either dubbed over, generated using AI voice synthesis, or selectively edited.
Shaur Azher, an audio engineer at our sister company Soch Videos, also analysed the video and informed us that the noise profiles of the video of the student is completely different from the one showing Maryam Nawaz. A noise profile refers to the unique background sound characteristics of a recording, including ambient noise, reverberation, and acoustic properties.
Azher explained that the two videos were not recorded in the same instance. They were seemingly recorded in different auditoriums, which resulted in distinct noise profiles.
He observed a noticeable difference in their noise frequency. “The student’s background noise level falls within the 7,000 Hertz (Hz) to 10,000 Hz range, whereas Maryam Nawaz’s noise profile is present between 10,000 Hz and 17,000 Hz. This discrepancy suggests potential audio manipulation or recording inconsistencies.”
Azher also informed us that at 00:00:06.828, the student’s question can be identified, with clear evidence of audio splicing distinct segments have been artificially merged to form a continuous sentence. The absence of frequencies between 4,000 Hz and 20,000 Hz suggests possible tampering and a loss of natural spectral fidelity.
Similarly, at 00:00:10.350, the student’s question appears again, with evident audio splicing demonstrating the deliberate merging of distinct segments to create a seamless sentence. Furthermore, the absence of frequencies between 2,500 Hz and 20,000 Hz indicates possible manipulation and a loss of natural spectral integrity.
He further added that at 00:00:11.376, the student’s question is identifiable, with a minor crossfade serving as an audio stitch. This blending effect is particularly noticeable within the 2,500 Hz to 20,000 Hz frequency range.
At 00:00:15.621, Maryam Nawaz’s response can be identified. While it appears to be a complete sentence, audio splicing is evident. A frequency spectrum analysis reveals a shift in pitch, suggesting that her response has been segmented and reassembled indicating possible manipulation from different times and sources.
Thus, based on our review of the student’s original video and Azher’s analysis, we conclude that the video in the claim is doctored. It combines two unrelated clips with manipulated audios.
Virality
The claim gained significant traction on Facebook receiving over 110,000 likes and 21,000 shares. It was shared here, here, and here. Archived here, here, and here.
On TikTok, it was shared here (here).
Conclusion: The video is doctored as it includes two unrelated clips containing manipulated audio. In the original video, the student never mentioned Imran Khan, and the exchange between her and Maryam Nawaz did not occur.
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Background image in cover photo: The Express Tribune
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com