ISLAMABAD: In the volatile socio-political landscape of Pakistan, marked by a pronounced state-society disconnect, deep-rooted mistrust, and widespread polarization, disinformation has found fertile ground. It doesn’t merely mislead; it weaponizes public perception, distorts truth, and in its most destructive form, catalyzes violent extremism.
Pakistan’s digital sphere is increasingly being co-opted by malign forces that exploit artificial intelligence tools like deepfakes to foment discord and radicalize individuals. Deepfakes, realistic yet fabricated videos or audio recordings created through advanced AI techniques, portray people saying or doing things they never did. This technology has triggered concern worldwide about an impending “information apocalypse,” where distinguishing truth from fiction becomes nearly impossible. For Pakistan, that dystopian future may already be unfolding.
Historically, Pakistan’s complex political fabric has always been susceptible to media manipulation. The country’s rich mosaic of ethnic, religious, and political identities struggles to coexist peacefully. Political intolerance has remained a steady undercurrent, manifesting in deadly consequences. From Mashal Khan, a university student falsely accused and lynched over blasphemy in 2017, to Junaid Hafeez, an academic enduring years of imprisonment, and Rashid Rehman, his lawyer gunned down in 2014, these tragedies underscore the lethal potential of disinformation in reinforcing radical narratives. The murder of prominent politician Salman Taseer in 2011 for defending Asia Bibi, a Christian woman accused of blasphemy, further reveals how entrenched these issues are. More recently, Sri Lankan national Priyantha Diyawadanage was brutally killed, again under false blasphemy charges, a testament to the deadly link between rumor-mongering and vigilantism.
Today, with the rapid advancement of AI-powered disinformation tools, the threat of violent extremism and radicalization in Pakistan has grown exponentially, not just in scale, but in sophistication. Extremist groups are no longer reliant on crude propaganda or isolated sermons; they now wield algorithmically tailored content, deepfake videos, and AI-generated personas to infiltrate digital spaces with alarming precision. These technologies allow radical networks to manipulate emotions, fabricate legitimacy, and exploit existing societal divisions with unprecedented efficiency.
The digital battlefield has become a breeding ground for ideological warfare, where misinformation spreads faster than truth and emotional manipulation overrides critical thinking. AI-driven disinformation campaigns are designed to bypass rational scrutiny, targeting vulnerable individuals, especially youth with seductive narratives of identity, grievance, and purpose. In Pakistan’s context, where political polarization, religious sensitivities, and media illiteracy are already deeply entrenched, these tools act as accelerants, pushing susceptible minds toward radical ideologies.
Deepfakes are being used not only to slander political opponents but to fabricate entire personas that incite hate, division, and extremism. While imprisoned during the 2024 elections, former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party (PTI) used AI to generate speeches based on notes he sent from jail.These speeches were broadcast at virtual rallies, portraying Khan as a heroic figure and reinforcing his political narrative.
Deepfake videos of PTI figures like Nadeem Haider Panjutha and Muhammad Basharat Raja falsely claimed they were withdrawing from the elections or urging supporters not to vote were so convincing that they caused confusion among voters and required public rebuttals from the party leadership. Pakistani political parties have engaged use of AI-generated news anchors to deliver campaign messages, further blurring the line between authentic journalism and political propaganda
Such videos prey on Pakistan’s existing societal fault lines, aggravating political intolerance and pushing communities deeper into polarized silos. Emotional manipulation, rather than rational debate, becomes the dominant mode of engagement.
Social media has proven especially potent in this regard. Platforms designed for connection now act as echo chambers that amplify extremist views. Algorithms tailor content to users’ preferences, reinforcing biases and isolating individuals from dissenting perspectives. This results in a fragmented information landscape where narratives are curated not for accuracy, but for emotional impact and ideological alignment.
Pakistan’s lack of media literacy compounds the problem. While over 75 million citizens are active on social media, few possess the skills to critically assess the information they consume. Most users seek affirmation, not facts; truth becomes malleable, shaped by political loyalties and confirmation bias. Even fact-checking entities are often politically aligned, rendering objective scrutiny nearly impossible.
Against this backdrop, extremist groups have deftly incorporated disinformation into their recruitment and propaganda strategies. Since the Afghan Jihad of the 1980s, conspiracy theories surrounding foreign intervention have served as powerful ideological tools. Unlike in some Western contexts, where disinformation may act as an entry point into extremism, in Pakistan it often functions as a legitimizing force, validating pre-existing radical beliefs and hardening attitudes. Extremist groups, whether religious or ethnic, have weaponized these narratives to deepen polarization and justify violence.
Deepfakes are now being crafted to glamorize life within extremist factions. AI-generated content portrays camaraderie, purpose, and spiritual fulfillment, tapping into the emotional void felt by alienated youth. These fabricated portrayals of group identity serve as potent “pull” factors in radicalization. The Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), an offshoot operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan, recently exemplified this trend. After claiming responsibility for a deadly attack in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, the group released a video featuring an AI-generated anchor presenting their narrative, blurring lines between journalistic credibility and militant propaganda.
Such digital manipulation isn’t restricted to political figures or institutions. One chilling example involved a Muhammad Qasim, from Lahore who, using deepfake techniques, claimed divine communication and issued threats against dissenters.
Hundreds of AI-generated videos and audio deepfakes have circulated across TikTok, YouTube, and Twitter, portraying Qasim as the prophesied Imam Mahdi. These videos often include AI-generated images of Qasim in heroic or spiritual settings, and deepfake audio clips of prominent Islamic scholars (e.g., Mufti Menk, Zakir Naik) falsely endorsing him. One video even featured a deepfake of Barack Obama allegedly supporting Qasim’s divine status. The campaign promotes apocalyptic narratives and Pakistan’s messianic role in ushering in a “pure Islamic world,” fueling extremist sentiment and theological radicalizationThe convergence of religious extremism with AI-driven deception portends a new, deeply destabilizing phase in Pakistan’s security landscape.
Furthermore, disinformation’s psychological dimensions, especially its capacity to exploit trust, emotion, and bias, make it a formidable tool for political and ideological warfare. With so many factions considering themselves morally “right,” civil discourse has all but vanished. Stereotypes replace nuance, and anger becomes the default mode of expression.
The consequences are far-reaching and disturbingly entrenched. In Pakistan, political manipulation through disinformation doesn’t just erode democratic norms, it thrives on a society primed for distrust and emotional volatility. The rapid dissemination of sensational misinformation finds a receptive audience among citizens conditioned to respond more viscerally than critically. The absence of analytical scrutiny, coupled with heightened political intolerance, creates a landscape where truth is secondary to ideology. Misinformation acts less as an anomaly and more as a reflection of deeper societal fragmentation: an ecosystem where rumors carry more weight than facts, and fabricated narratives are validated through sheer repetition. What Pakistan faces is not merely a crisis of technology, but a crisis of collective perception, where facts are negotiable, truth is tribal, and polarization has become the dominant social currency.
In the digital age, the battle against violent extremism is as much a fight for facts as it is for hearts and minds. Pakistan stands at a crossroads, between spiraling into deeper chaos, or rising to the challenge of fostering an informed, inclusive, and resilient society.
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