India battles disinformation war after successful Operation Sindoor

New Delhi: Soon after its strike on Pakistan’s terror camps, India came under a disinformation attack. Following India’s decisive strike under ‘OPERATION SINDOOR’, Pakistan unleashed a full-blown disinformation offensive in its bid to shift the focus and control the narrative.Pro-Pakistan social media handles and even influential political figures were seen spreading fake news, which included fabricating stories of miraculous military victories and heroic retaliation that simply did not exist.

For example, a viral image was spread to falsely claim that the Pakistan Army had shot down an Indian Rafale jet near Bahawalpur. The image, however, was debunked by the Indian govt, which confirmed that it was from a MiG-21 crash in Moga, Punjab, in 2021 — entirely unrelated to current events.

Another brazen piece of misinformation surfaced in the form of a video falsely claiming that the Indian Army raised a white flag and surrendered at Chora Post in Kashmir. This fabricated narrative was amplified by Pakistan’s Minister Attaullah Tarar, who publicly endorsed the claim without a shred of evidence. “By lending official weight to an unverified and clearly false story, Tarar not only misled his own citizens but also actively contributed to the propaganda campaign,” govt sources said. “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, the source added.In another misleading post, a video was circulated with the claim that the Pakistan Air Force targeted the Srinagar airbase. In reality, this footage was traced back to sectarian clashes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, that occurred in early 2024. The video had no connection to Kashmir or any recent airstrike.Additionally, another old image — this time of a MiG-29 crash in Barmer, Rajasthan, from September 2024 — was recirculated by pro-Pakistan social media handles to imply recent Indian Air Force losses, which did not occur.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.