A viral deepfake of Colonel Sofia Qureshi shared with the fake story

A deepfake video of Indian Army’s Colonel Sofia Qureshi is going viral on social media. In this video, Sofia Qureshi can be heard saying, “I am a Muslim, but not a Pakistani. I am a Muslim, but not a terrorist.” This video is being widely shared by Pakistani users.

While sharing this video, a Pakistani user wrote on Facebook, “Indian Army Colonel Sofia Qureshi said that she is Muslim but not Pakistani. I react to her statement as I am replying to her that we are Pakistani and we have not to say that we are not Indians. This is the difference between Pakistani and Indian Muslims.”

Screenshot of a Facebook post by 'Abtak Pakistan HD' showing a deepfake video falsely claiming to feature Indian Army Colonel Sofia Qureshi. The video includes misleading subtitles suggesting she declared being a Muslim but not Pakistani, with Indian and Pakistani flags superimposed. The post falsely implies religious identity differences between Indian and Pakistani Muslims, spreading misinformation. The post includes hashtags like #sofiaqureshi, #muslim, and #indianmuslim, aiming to provoke communal sentiment.

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Fact Check

To verify the viral claim, the DFRAC team first searched some keywords related to Colonel Sofia Qureshi’s viral statement on Google. We did not find any reports published by any media organization. After that, our team closely examined the viral video. We found that the facial expressions of Sofia Qureshi in the video are not natural, and the voice in the video does not match her lip movements. Moreover, in the end, the part where terrorists are mentioned is spoken emphatically, but the facial expression in the video remains completely neutral.

Our team then checked the viral video using the DeepFake-o-Meter. The DeepFake-o-Meter is an online platform developed by the University at Buffalo, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to detect fake videos, images, and audio created using deepfake techniques. Upon testing with this tool, it was revealed that the video has zero percent chance of being original, while there is a 100 percent probability that it is a deepfake. This clearly proves that the claim made by Pakistani users is fake.

"Facebook post by Abtak Pakistan HD falsely claiming Indian Army Colonel Sofia Qureshi said she is Muslim but not Pakistani. The deepfake video includes fake subtitles and national flags of Pakistan and India, attempting to misrepresent her statement. The post promotes a misleading narrative about religious and national identity among Indian Muslims, with hashtags like #sofiaqureshi, #muslim, #indianmuslim, and #islamic. The video is 49 seconds long and contains digitally altered content targeting India-Pakistan relations."

Conclusion

DFRAC’s fact check clearly shows that a deepfake video of Colonel Sofia Qureshi is being shared on social media by Pakistani users. Therefore, this claim is fake.