Old photos, new lies: India warns Pak against disinformation campaign

Amid Operation Sindoor launched by the Indian Army to avenge the Pahalgam killings, India has categorically refuted the claims being made by Pakistan to shift the focus and control the narrative with a barrage of lies and digital theatrics.

Calling the narratives being floated by Pakistan as ‘a full-blown disinformation offensive’, India said what started as a focused and effective military operation by the Indian Armed Forces has now spiraled into a chaotic online propaganda war.

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In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting stated that pro-Pakistan social media handles and even influential political figures are deliberately spreading fake news, fabricating stories of miraculous military victories and heroic retaliation that simply do not exist.

“In a blatant effort to hijack the narrative and distract from the reality on the ground, Pakistan’s state-affiliated accounts have turned to their familiar playbook: recycling outdated images, misrepresenting old videos, and inventing completely fabricated claims,” read the statement.

“Their goal is clear — to flood the information space with falsehoods so quickly and overwhelmingly that it becomes difficult to separate fact from fiction. This is not just misinformation; it is a calculated, coordinated campaign designed to distort reality, mislead the public, and manipulate perceptions across the region,” it added further.

Giving examples of the ‘fake information’ being floated through social media handles is a viral image falsely claiming that the Pakistan Army had shot down an Indian Rafale jet near Bahawalpur. In reality, it was from a MiG-21 crash in Moga, Punjab, in 2021, entirely unrelated to current events.

Lambasting Pakistan’s Minister Attaullah Tarar for his claim that the Indian Army raised a white flag and surrendered at Chora Post, the I&B spokesperson said by publicly endorsing the claim without a shred of evidence, Tarar not only misled his own citizens but also actively contributed to the propaganda campaign.

The spokesperson further refuted the claim related to an attack on Srinagar airbase, Pakistan destroying an Indian Brigade Headquarters, and Indian Air Force losses.

Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif also made a baseless claim that Indian soldiers were captured during the recent military strikes, a statement that was later debunked and retracted. “Asif alleged that Indian soldiers had been taken prisoner following Pakistan’s response to India’s Operation Sindoor. However, these claims were promptly dismissed as false, with no evidence to support the assertion of captured soldiers. The defence minister later retracted his statement, acknowledging that no Indian soldiers had been taken into custody,” the statement read.

The Ministry said by flooding social media with recycled images, unrelated videos, and fabricated claims, Pakistan is attempting to obscure the actual outcome of the operation and create the illusion of a strong counter-response.“This strategy appears aimed at diverting attention from the effectiveness of India’s action, while simultaneously trying to influence both domestic sentiment and international opinion through false portrayals of battlefield developments,” it read.