Following India’s most expansive cross-border strikes on terror bases in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Pakistan, a flood of misinformation and false propaganda is being peddled from across the border by influencers, media, and government-sponsored social media handles.
The latest falsehood being peddled by Pakistani handles concerns the alleged interception of an Indian Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in Pakistan’s Gujranwala region, which was then purportedly shot down by the Pakistan Army.
This follows a day after the Indian Army launched multiple cross-border strikes using niche weaponry, including drones, missiles, and guided bombs, to dismantle terror networks and infrastructure.
The Press Information Bureau (PIB), the government’s nodal agency for disseminating information, has fact-checked the false and baseless narrative being spread by Pakistani handles regarding the drone allegedly intercepted in Gujranwala.
“The image being circulated originates from the Ukraine-Russia conflict in 2022,” the PIB stated on X, also sharing a weblink to verify the image’s source.
Earlier in the day, the PIB debunked another false narrative from Pakistani media outlets, which claimed that Pakistan had retaliated against Indian military strikes and, in response, had struck a military base in Amritsar. A video of an inferno was also shared to support this assertion.
The PIB, however, swiftly investigated and exposed Pakistan’s mischievous agenda.
The video, it was revealed, depicted a wildfire.
“Pakistan-based handles are circulating old videos that falsely allege strikes on a military base in Amritsar. The video being shared is from a wildfire in 2024,” the PIB stated, further urging the public to rely solely on official Government of India sources for accurate information.
Numerous images and videos shared by Pakistani sources have either been digitally altered or sourced from unrelated incidents, often years old, and then repurposed to promote a fabricated narrative of retaliation and military prowess. Even influential political figures are reportedly sharing discredited material and making unsubstantiated claims of victorious counter-strikes.
India’s strikes within the neighbouring nation have evidently left it rattled and agitated; however, India has maintained that its actions were ‘measured, calibrated, and non-escalatory’. (IANS)