Claim: A video shows Maryam Nawaz allegedly departing for Geneva from Lahore Airport with people chanting, “Maryam kay papa chor hain” [“Maryam’s father is a thief”].
Fact: The claim is false. The video shows Maryam Nawaz arriving in Lahore from London in September 2023, not departing for Geneva. The audio in the clip was doctored to include derogatory chants against her father.
On 6 November, X user @JKJunaid7 shared a video of Maryam Nawaz at Lahore airport where people can be heard chanting “Maryam kay papa chor hain” [“Maryam’s father is a thief”]. The video was accompanied with the caption, “مریم نواز لاہور ائیرپورٹ سے “جنیوا ” کے لیے روانہ”
[Translated from Urdu: Maryam Nawaz left for “Geneva” from Lahore Airport]
Maryam Nawaz goes to Geneva
On 7 November, Dunya News reported that the Chief Minister of Punjab left for Switzerland on a special Pakistan Air Force plane from Lahore. Senior Punjab Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb and personal staff accompanied her. The report further stated that she is expected to undergo surgery under the supervision of her doctors in Geneva.
Maryam Nawaz received medical clearance to travel abroad for treatment after a check-up at Sharif Medical Complex for throat pain, according to Business Recorder. She underwent thyroid surgery last year and has been experiencing complications since then, requiring immediate attention from her surgeon, the report added.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse-searched keyframes of the video and found that it was shared as early as 26 September 2023 on X by Aamir Qayyum Bhatti, the President of PML-N’s social media team in Gujrat, with the caption, “Chief Organizer PML-N Maryam Nawaz Reached Lahore Airport”
In the video, people can be heard chanting “Qaum ki beti, qaum ki awaz, Maryam Nawaz, Maryam Nawaz” [Daughter of the nation, voice of the nation, Maryam Nawaz, Maryam Nawaz].
The video was also shared by Mirza Zahid PML-N Sahiwal on X here with the same caption.
We also found the same video in a report by Samaa TV on Nawaz’s arrival from London on 26 September 2023. According to the newscaster, Maryam Nawaz was welcomed by PML-N members at Lahore Airport. Samaa’s reporter, Asim Naseer, who was on-site, informed the newscaster that Nawaz had returned after a six-day stay in London. Toward the end of the video, people can be heard chanting, “Qaum ki beti” [“Daughter of the nation”]. The video report does not mention any derogatory chants against the Chief Minister of Punjab or her father, further confirming that the audio in the viral video was likely dubbed.
In the original clip, only one person chants intermittently, and his lip movements perfectly synchronise with the audio. In the viral video, it sounds like multiple people are chanting, but only one person is visibly chanting while others around him remain silent. The lip sync is noticeably off.
Shaur Azher, an audio engineer at Soch Videos, conducted an audio analysis of the two clips and confirmed that the viral video had been dubbed. According to Azher, we can see the audio’s frequency distribution and amplitude intensities over time in the original spectrogram image.
Spectrogram One likely represents the unaltered sound of the audio, with each frequency’s loudness represented by the brightness or colour intensity. It highlights the varying patterns in the audio frequencies, with certain bands showing more energy, likely indicating prominent sounds or instruments. The complexity of the visual texture in these areas can suggest more intricate details in the audio content, such as background noise.
Contrary to this, Azher explained, a clear repetition pattern emerges consistently throughout spectrogram two showing the sound in the viral video. “This repeated structure indicates that portions of the audio were copied or dubbed to loop over time,” he added.
The regular intervals suggest that the looping was done to extend the audio length by repeating the same sound segments. “The looping was not done smoothly as it disrupts towards the end,” Azher highlighted, adding that “the audio was doubled at the end, and there was a noticeable abrupt cut at the end.”
A comparison of the spectrograms reveals the contrast between an unaltered, continuous sound and a deliberately repeated pattern. The spectrogram of the original video shows more variation in amplitude and frequency, while the one of the viral videos shows a looped version. The latter displays recurring elements and lacks the natural progression of sound in the original video.
Virality
The video was shared here, here, here, and here on X. Archived here, here, here, and here.
On Facebook, it was shared here, here, here, here, and here. Archived here, here, here, here, and here.
Conclusion: Maryam Nawaz was not met with derogatory chants at Lahore airport when departing for Geneva. The video dates back to September 2023 when she arrived from London, and people originally chanted, “Qaum ki beti, qaum ki awaz, Maryam Nawaz, Maryam Nawaz” [Daughter of the nation, voice of the nation, Maryam Nawaz, Maryam Nawaz].
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Background image in cover photo: The News/AFP
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