A video purportedly showing a Pakistani journalist asking a question to the US Department of State Principal Deputy Spokesperson, Vedant Patel, is going viral as a recent incident on social media platforms.
What did the journalist ask?: He mentioned how India has not travelled to Pakistan for a cricket tournament/match after 2008 and then questioned if politics should be mixed with sports.
To this, Patel responded by saying that the US will let India and Pakistan speak to their own bilateral relationships.
What are the facts?: The video dates back to 14 November 2024 and is unrelated to the recent reports of Pakistan refusing to play against India in the 2026 ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament.
What led us to the truth?: Using the help of Google Lens, we conducted a reverse image search on the keyframes of the viral video and found a report published by FirstPost.
It said that a Pakistani journalist asking during the US Department of State's daily press briefing about India's refusal to travel to Pakistan for the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy.
The report further carried the entire exchange between Patel and the journalist.
Finding the original video: The official YouTube channel of US Department of State had shared the full press briefing of 14 November 2024.
It was titled, "Department of State Daily Press Briefing - November 14, 2024 - 1:15 PM."
At around the 1:19:00 timestamp, one could hear the journalist asking the same question.
Conclusion: It is evident that the video is old and is being shared without the full context.
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