Pak propaganda targets tri-services exercise Trishul with doctored videos; link it with Bihar elections

Barely a day after Exercise Trishul, the first and largest Tri-Services manoeuvre undertaken by India since Operation Sindoor, commenced along the Gujarat coast and western Rajasthan, and the exercise has become the target of a coordinated disinformation campaign.

According to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Pakistan’s propaganda machinery has launched a wave of fake narratives and digitally manipulated content aimed at undermining the exercise. Doctored videos featuring Chief of the Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi and Colonel Sofia Qureshi have been widely circulated on social media platforms linked to Islamabad, in what officials describe as an attempt to distort facts and mislead public perception.

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Flagging a post on X, Press Information Bureau’s fact check team stated that Pakistani propaganda accounts are circulating a digitally altered video of both the officers making claims that the Trishul exercise is nothing but political theatre before the Bihar elections.

In the digitally altered video of the COAS, he is heard stating, “Today I stand here not as the Army Chief but as a soldier asking for his dignity back. Saffronisation is not patriotism; it is poison. It is breaking our unity, shaking the very pillars of India’s armed strength. On the 10th of May, when our forces suffered heavy losses, I went to the Prime Minister myself. I said, sir, we are unprepared; we must be assessed before we bleed any further. But I was told to step back, to stay silent. That day, I realised silence is no longer an option. At the Singapore conference, I spoke the truth, and I will speak it again today. The so-called Trishul exercise is nothing but political theatre before the Bihar elections. If we wish to build a stronger Hindustan, we must free our army from politics and reclaim our honour.”

The PIB team also shared the original clip, which was posted on November 1, in which the COAS made no such claims and rather spoke about the reason for choosing the name for the strikes carried out jointly by the Indian Armed Forces against Pakistan post Pahalgam attack

“So, I would like to tell you about the lessons I learned from Op Sindoor. I will not talk about military lessons. I would like to tell you about the lessons we learned in life. First of all, Op Sindoor was not only about conquering enemies, but it was also about establishing peace and harmony. When the Prime Minister told me about Operation Sindoor, that it was named after, as you know, during the Kargil war, the army was named after Op Vijay, the air force was named after Op Safed Sagar. This time, the Prime Minister himself said that it was named Op Sindoor. So, what was the biggest benefit? There was only one name in the whole country, Op Sindoor,” he said while addressing a gathering.

Another doctored video of Colonel Sofia Qureshi has surfaced online, falsely portraying her as calling the exercise a “farce” linked to the upcoming elections in Bihar. The fabricated clip features a manipulated speech in which she is made to appear critical of the Indian Army’s leadership, alleging politicisation within the ranks and accusing the exercise of serving political ends.

In reality, the original video shows Colonel Qureshi delivering a message of national unity and youth engagement, highlighting the Army’s role in shaping Viksit Bharat 2047. She had spoken about the initiative as a platform to inspire nearly 9,000 young participants, emphasising that national defence was not just a military responsibility but a shared duty of every citizen. She described the event as a celebration of service, sacrifice, and collective spirit, rooted in the Indian ethos of Seva Parmo Dharma, service as the highest virtue.