Clip shows Eid shopping frenzy, not Afghan store looting
"In Punjab, on the one hand, the Pakistani government is forcibly deporting Afghans, while on the other hand, the Punjabi people are looting Afghan goods as booty," reads the Urdu-language caption to the video shared on X on April 6, 2025.
It shows people shouting and scrambling to get heaps of wrapped-up clothes in a boutique.
Similar posts surfaced elsewhere on X following Islamabad's strict deportation campaign (archived link).
Afghans in Pakistan have reported weeks of arbitrary arrests, extortion and harassment by authorities, with many of those forcibly returned living in Punjab and Sindh provinces.
Analysts say the expulsions are designed to pressure neighbouring Afghanistan's Taliban authorities, which Islamabad blames for fuelling a rise in border attacks.
Afghanistan's prime minister Hasan Akhund condemned the "unilateral measures" taken by its neighbour and urged the Pakistani government to "facilitate the dignified return of Afghan refugees".
Although the circulating clip is unrelated to the deportations, comments to the false posts suggest people were misled.
"These poor Afghan shopkeepers are being oppressed, Punjab is so greedy. Why oppress the poor? Punjabi people consider themselves Muslims, theft is not the work of Muslims," a wrote.
"The same moral decline that the rulers of the country are suffering from is now clearly visible in Pakistani society," another said.
A reverse image search of the video's keyframes on Google led to a post on X post from Iftikhar Firdous, an editor at local news outlet The Khorasan Diary, who said the clip has been misrepresented (archived link.)
He shared a link to the original TikTok post on March 21 from a user named Shafiq Ahmad (archived here and here).
A review of Ahmad's account found he shared another video on April 7 clarifying the earlier clip does not show an Afghan-owned business being looted (archived link).
The video's narration says it shows customers scrambling to get hold of in-demand items at a clothes shop called "Yahya Zakriya Sajjad Fashion Arts" in Punjab's capital Lahore days before Eid.
He shared similar other videos in his profile (archived here and here).
AFP reached out to the store and one of its owners, Sajjad Sheikh, said Ahmad is an employee.
"The video was shot in the days leading up to Eid, it shows the Eid rush," Sheikh, who identified himself as Pakistani, told AFP.
"It does not show anything related to the Afghan deportations or looting of Afghan businesses."
Photos of the shop geotagged on Google Maps show a similar background layout seen in the video (archived link).
Similar videos of Eid shopping sprees in Pakistan have been previously shared online (archived link).
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