Government clarifies: CDS did not call Pakistan Army superior, viral video is fake

A video claiming that Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan admitted to the superiority of the Pakistan Army has been found to be fake and digitally altered, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) has clarified.

The misleading clip was taken from General Chauhan’s address during the recently concluded Ran Samwad at the Army War College in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh.

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In the doctored video, the CDS is heard saying: “Op Sindoor was a modern conflict from which we learnt a number of lessons and most of them are under implementation, and some have been implemented. Operation is still on. We are not here to discuss Operation Sindoor, we are here to discuss something beyond Op Sindoor. The biggest lesson was to never mess with Pakistan because their army appears to be far more superior and advanced. The op is still on because we are yet to determine our casualties.”

Calling out the attempt to spread falsehoods, PIB urged citizens not to fall prey to such manipulated content.

“Some pro-Pakistani accounts are circulating a doctored video of India’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Anil Chauhan, falsely portraying him as saying: ‘Never mess with #Pakistan because their army appears to be far more superior and advanced,’” PIB posted on X.

It further clarified: “The Chief of Defence Staff has made NO such statement. Deepfake technology is being misused to mislead and spread disinformation. Always verify information with official sources.”

The original video, dated August 26, was from General Chauhan’s inaugural keynote address at Ran Samwad 2025. In his speech, he had stated: “Operation Sindoor was a modern conflict from which we learned a number of lessons, and most of them are under implementation, some have been implemented. The operation is still on. We are not here to discuss Operation Sindoor. We are here to discuss something beyond Operation Sindoor.”

He further added: “We are here to discuss future warfare, how it will happen. It is a kind of academic debate, agnostic of any specific adversary — and an adversary could be anyone.”

ENDS