Misinformation about Pakistan frequently circulates online in its archrival neighbour India, including footage misrepresented as a rally in August 2026 where a prominent activist supposedly declared Balochistan an independent nation and Kashmir as entirely part of India. The clip of Mahrang Baloch is from January 2024, before she was sentenced to life on murder and terror charges, in a case that has drawn condemnation from various rights groups. A review of her speech found she made no such remarks, as indicated in the false posts.
“Today Mahrang Baloch, the lioness of Balochistan, has declared Balochistan an independent nation, separate from Pakistan,” reads a Hindi-language Facebook post, shared August 11 by a member of the youth wing of India’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
Pakistan’s security forces are fighting a decades-long insurgency in the sparsely populated but mineral-rich southwestern province — led by separatist militants who accuse authorities and outsiders of exploiting the area.
Rights groups say the violence has been countered with a severe crackdown that has swept up innocent people, claims authorities deny.
The post adds the 33-year-old activist also acknowledged Pakistan-administered Kashmir as “part of India” in her speech. The region is claimed in full by both India and Pakistan but has been divided between the two countries since 1947.
The accompanying 22-second video shows Baloch addressing a large crowd and chanting slogans from the stage.
Screenshot of false post taken August 19, 2026, with red X added by AFP
The video spread on Facebook and was published by Indian outlets Times Now and NewsX Live in reports about groups observing August 11 as Balochistan’s independence day — three days before Pakistan’s annual celebration of the end of British rule.
However, the clip is old and the activist’s remarks were misrepresented.
Not recent rally
The video bears the logo of The Balochistan Post in the upper right corner. A reverse image search using keyframes led to the full 20-minute version published by the news organisation on YouTube on January 28, 2024 ( archived link).
“Mahrang Baloch pulls one of the largest crowds in Balochistan’s history,” reads the headline.
Its description says the clip shows a gathering by the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) — the group she founded — that happened the day prior in the provincial capital Quetta.
Screenshot comparison of false post (L) and video from The Balochistan Post published in 2024
The BYC also shared a picture of her during the speech on Facebook, showing the same crowd and speakers at the venue ( archived link).
Local outlets also reported on her speech, which they said attracted tens of thousands of people at Quetta’s Shahwani Stadium (archived here and here).
AFP journalists reviewed Baloch’s entire speech — delivered mostly in Urdu with some lines in Balochi — and found she did not make the remarks about Balochistan being an independent nation or Kashmir being wholly part of India.
However, she criticised Pakistan’s military and urged people to resist what she described as the army’s detention, torture and political repression in Balochistan.
“The Baloch people will mobilise and raise their voices against the oppression of the Pakistani army,” she said in Urdu at the video’s 15:20 mark.
She also asked members of the Baloch minority to “resolve or end your tribal conflicts or wars”.
“From the first day, in fact, this state (of Pakistan) wishes or wants that Baloch fight each other, kill each other and throw (bodies) each other,” she said in Balochi, adding that people should “get united against that state”.
Baloch was arrested M arch 2025 on charges stemming from a protest in the coastal city of Gwadar the previous year, which sparked clashes that left a paramilitary soldier dead ( archived link).
She has been in detention since and was sentenced to life imprisonment in early July 2026, with United Nations rights experts calling the verdict a “travesty of justice”.
Baloch began campaigning after she discovered her father’s tortured body when she was a teenager ( archived link).
She founded the BYC after her brother disappeared for four months in 2018 to mobilise the relatives of victims of alleged extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances and other arbitrary arrests.
Her marches are attended by thousands, almost exclusively women, who stage days-long sit-ins.
A spokesperson for the Balochistan government told AFP following her arrest that “activists are making claims without any grounds” about rights abuses and enforced disappearances.
AFP has debunked other false claims related to tensions between India and Pakistan.
