When Pakistan launched a massive expulsion campaign in April, social media posts shared a video they falsely claimed that showed an Afghan family ransacked in the Punjab province. A car owner at the store told AFP.
“In Punjab, on the one hand, the Pakistani government was forcibly expelled from Afghans, on the other hand, the people of Punjabi are robbing Afghan goods,” Urdu language title shared on April 6, 2025 on X.
It shows people yelling and scrambling to buy a lot of packages of clothes in a boutique.
Screenshot of fake posts, taken on April 21, 2025
Similar posts surfaced Islamabad’s strict deportation campaign (archive link) elsewhere in X.
Afghans in Pakistan reported weeks of arbitrary arrests, extortion and harassment from the authorities, many of which forced their way back to Punjab and Sindh provinces.
Analysts say the deportation is intended to put pressure on nearby Afghan Taliban authorities, with Islamabad blamed for the increase in border attacks.
Afghan Prime Minister Hasan Akhund condemned the “unilateral measures” taken by his neighbors and urged the Pakistani government to “promote the return of dignity of Afghan refugees”.
Although the circulating clips have nothing to do with deportation, comments on fake posts suggest people are misled.
One wrote: “These poor Afghan shopkeepers are oppressed, and Punjab is so greedy. Why oppress the poor? Punjabi people think they are Muslims and theft is not Muslim’s job.”
Another said: “The same moral decline that rulers of the country suffered in Pakistan are now clearly visible.”
“Eida is urgent”
A reverse image search for keyframes of videos on Google led to an article on X’s post Iftikhar Firdous, editor of local news media Horasan Diary, said the clip has been misrepresented (archive link).
He came from a Username Shafiq Ahmad (Archive here and here).
Comments on Ahmed’s account found that he shared another video on April 7, clarifying that earlier clips did not show Afghan-owned business was robbing ((Archive association).
The video’s narrative shows that it shows customers scrambling to grab items in clothing stores for demand Called “Yahya Zakriya Sajjad Fashion Art” A few days before Eid, in Lahore, the capital of Punjab.
He shared other similar videos in his profile (archived here and here).
Comparison of screenshots of fake posts (L) and Shafiq Ahmad’s Tiktok Post
AFP extended the store, and one of the owners, Sajjad Sheikh, said Ahmad was an employee.
“The video was taken a few days before Eid, and it shows the hastyness of Eid.” Sheikh confirmed that he was Pakistan, he told AFP.
“It shows nothing related to Afghanistan deportation or robbery of Afghan business.”
Photos of the store geographically located on Google Maps show similar background layouts video (Archive link).
Similar videos Pakistan’s Eid shopping carnival has been shared online before (archive link).
