'Truth' behind the viral video of 'Pakistani' man begging on flight

‘Truth’ behind the viral video of ‘Pakistani’ man begging on flight

Many laughed, other sympathised as the man, whom many on the Internet believed to be a Pakistani, asked other passengers on a flight for money, while the flight stewards patiently tried to reason with him.

Over the past few days on Twitter, a video of a frail-looking man begging for money on board a flight went viral. In the video, the man was seen asking other passengers for money while the flight stewards patiently tried to reason with him.

While a few sympathised with the man, most poked fun at his “nationality”.

“Video of a Pakistani man begging on an international flight circulating on whatsapp. Not sure why people are laughing at it. The man is obviously either very desperate in life or suffering some mental illness.”

“A man delayed a Qatar Airways flight when he started begging other passengers for money. ”

“He wasn’t a beggar, he was just a Pakistani”” are some of the comments that have been, since then, doing the rounds of the Internet, referring to Pakistan as his place of origin.

As the video, which eventually shows other passengers offering him money, was widely shared on social media, a bureacrat from Pakistan quashed the claims surrounding the man’s country of origin.

But before that, watch the video here.

Danyal Gilani, whose Twitter bio reads “Chairman Central Film Censor Board. Former Press Secretary to PM.” among other things, refuted the news that he was Pakistani and said he was, in fact, an Iranian deportee. “This video is made onboard a Doha-Shiraz flight. The so-called beggar, who is an Iranian deportee, speaking Farsi & the lady making the video is also speaking in Farsi. The old man was deported without any money so he was asking passengers in the plane to help him out,” read his tweet.