By Sindhiya Gupta
Following India’s precise and preemptive Operation Sindoor, which targeted terror hubs across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), Pakistan responded not with military retaliation—but with a barrage of misinformation across social media.
In one striking example, Pakistani accounts circulated a photo purporting to show an Indian fighter jet downed during the operation. Fact-checkers quickly identified it as an image from a September 2024 MiG-29 crash in Barmer, Rajasthan, resulting from a routine technical failure—not combat.
Further disinformation included fabricated claims that Indian Rafale jets were shot down and Indian troops had surrendered—both categorically debunked by the Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s Fact Check Unit. One such viral image, alleging a downed Rafale, was traced to a 2021 MiG-21 crash, entirely unrelated to the current scenario.
Some of the most deceptive claims involved doctored videos said to show Pakistani airstrikes on Srinagar airbase. In reality, the footage came from 2024 sectarian riots in Pakistan itself. Senior Pakistani leaders, including Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, made unfounded claims of capturing Indian soldiers—claims that were later quietly withdrawn due to lack of evidence.
In another instance, a viral post claimed that Pakistan had destroyed an Indian Army Brigade Headquarters, a story the PIB Fact Check team dismissed as false.
Over two dozen fake accounts, many posing as Indian military personnel, were flagged for spreading this coordinated campaign of disinformation, especially on X (formerly Twitter).
Independent journalists and fact-checkers like Mohammed Zubair played a pivotal role in countering these false narratives, uncovering recycled footage from Gaza, Iran, and other conflict zones being misused to mislead audiences.
Despite repeated corrections, mainstream Pakistani media continued to circulate debunked content, seemingly to deflect from the impact and precision of India’s limited but decisive anti-terror operation. The Indian government reiterated its appeal for the public and press to trust only verified information from official sources, highlighting the dangers of weaponized misinformation in times of conflict.
Sindhiya Gupta is a Media Analyst based in Jammu & Kashmir and she can be reached at connect.sindhiyagupta@gmail.com
