Recently, Aleema Khanum appeared on Sky News to talk about her jailed brother and former Prime Minister Imran Khan. Soon after the interview aired, a clip began circulating in which an online user accused Khanum of calling Khan “an asset in the West” who also wants to become “friends” with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India’s ruling party.
The claim is false. Khanum made no such comment.
Assertion
A user on X (formerly Twitter) posted a one-minute clip of Aleema Khanum from her Sky News interview on 2 December. The video was captioned: “Now this is insane! What is Aleema Khanum sabhiba up to? She’s talking like she’s a BJP leader!”
In the alleged recordings, Yalda Hakim, the interviewer, asks Khanum why Pakistan went to war with India in May. Khan’s sister can then be heard criticizing the military, replying: “Imran Khan is pure liberal. So whenever Imran Khan comes to power, you will see that he always tries to befriend India and even the BJP… I keep saying again and again that Imran Khan is an asset and the West needs to step up its efforts to free Imran.”
At the time of writing, the post had been viewed over 18,500 times, reposted 148 times and liked 343 times.
Similar claims had also been shared here and here.
Fact
Aleema Khanum did not make such remarks about Imran Khan i Sky News interview. Independent verification confirms that the clip circulating online was created using Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools.
Geofact check reviewed the entire interview available on the official Sky News YouTube channel that aired on December 2, as well as the live broadcast from that day.
Neither the host, Yalda Hakim, asks the question about India, nor does Aleema Khanum give the answer shown in the viral clip.
The entire interview can be seen here:
Separately, Hiya, a deepfake voice detector, gave the audio an authenticity score of 1 out of 100, meaning it is a deepfake audio.
Geofact check also contacted journalist Yalda Hakim, who confirmed via messages that Khanum made no such remarks.
“She absolutely did not make these statements,” Hakim wrote.
It should also be noted that in the online clip, Hakim’s voice has been slowed down, which is another indicator that the clip was tampered with.
Verdict: The viral video is manipulated. Aleema Khanum did not describe Imran Khan as “an asset to the West,” nor did she say he would “befriend the BJP.” The statements circulating online were made using AI-generated audio and do not appear anywhere in her Sky News interview.
