How Pakistan Spun a Fake Triumph Against India’s Precision Strike
The India-Pakistan standoff of May 2025, triggered by a terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Indian-administered Kashmir, on April 22, 2025, was a brief but intense escalation that brought two nuclear-armed neighbors to the brink of war. The four-day conflict, culminating in a U.S.-brokered ceasefire on May 10, 2025, was marked by military strikes, diplomatic posturing, and a fierce information war.
While both nations claimed victory, a closer examination of the facts reveals India’s strategic and military edge, contrasted sharply by Pakistan’s reliance on a fabricated narrative of triumph, propped up by disinformation and exaggerated claims.
The conflict’s origins lie in the Pahalgam attack, where gunmen killed 27 people, including 25 Hindu tourists, a Christian tourist, and a local Muslim, in the Baisaran Valley of Jammu and Kashmir. The Resistance Front (TRF), believed to be an offshoot of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, initially claimed responsibility before retracting it. India, citing Pakistan’s long-standing support for cross-border terrorism, accused Islamabad of orchestrating the attack, a charge Pakistan denied.
The Indian government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, responded with diplomatic measures, including suspending the Indus Waters Treaty, closing the Attari-Wagah border, and expelling Pakistani diplomats. These steps set the stage for military escalation, which erupted on May 7, 2025, with India’s Operation Sindoor, a series of missile strikes targeting alleged terrorist camps in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and, notably, four sites in Pakistan’s Punjab province, a region untouched by Indian strikes since the 1971 war.
India’s military operation was a calculated demonstration of reach and precision. The strikes hit key targets, including the Jaish-e-Mohammed camp in Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba’s Markaz Taiba in Muridke, neutralizing an estimated 80–100 terrorists. India deployed domestically developed BrahMos missiles and Akashteer air defense systems, showcasing its self-reliant defense capabilities.
Satellite imagery published by The New York Times confirmed damage to Pakistani military facilities and airfields, underscoring India’s ability to penetrate deep into enemy territory. Over the next two days, Indian drones struck major Pakistani population centers like Lahore and Karachi, further exposing vulnerabilities in Pakistan’s air defenses, which relied heavily on Chinese-made systems like the HQ-9 and HQ-16. The Indian Air Force’s advanced Rafale jets and multi-layered air defense systems, including the S-400, effectively countered Pakistani retaliatory strikes, with India reporting no confirmed losses of its airbases or critical infrastructure.
Pakistan’s response, while aggressive, lacked the precision and impact of India’s offensive. Islamabad claimed to have shot down six Indian warplanes, including three Rafale jets, and targeted 26 Indian military installations. However, these claims crumbled under scrutiny. The Indian government’s Press Information Bureau (PIB) debunked multiple Pakistani assertions, including a viral image alleging a Rafale jet was shot down near Bahawalpur, which was revealed to be a 2021 MiG-21 crash in Moga, Punjab.
Similarly, a video purportedly showing the Pakistan Air Force targeting Srinagar airbase was traced to sectarian clashes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2024. Pakistan’s own media, including Dawn, called out Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar for citing a fabricated Daily Telegraph front page proclaiming the Pakistan Air Force as the “undisputed king of the skies.” Fact-checkers, including India Today, confirmed that neither The Daily Telegraph nor CNN published the viral screenshots Pakistan used to bolster its narrative of military superiority.
The disinformation campaign extended beyond Pakistan’s borders, with state-run media in Turkey and China amplifying Islamabad’s claims. Turkish outlets like TRT World and Anadolu Agency echoed unverified reports of Indian airbase destruction, while Chinese media, including Global Times, falsely claimed Pakistan downed India’s S-400 systems and Rafale jets.
These narratives were strategic, aimed at projecting Pakistan’s Chinese-supplied JF-17 and J-10C fighters as superior to India’s arsenal. However, Indian military spokespersons, including Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, refuted these claims with time-stamped imagery, proving that airbases in Adampur, Suratgarh, and Sirsa remained intact. The reliance on doctored videos, recycled footage from video games like Arma 3, and fabricated CNN infographics underscored Pakistan’s desperation to create an illusion of victory.
On the ground, Pakistan’s losses were significant. India’s strikes damaged six Pakistani airbases and destroyed nine terrorist launch pads, according to posts on X by Indian defense analysts. Pakistan reported 31 civilian deaths, including women and children, claiming India targeted mosques and civilian areas. While these claims fueled domestic outrage, they lacked corroboration from independent sources. In contrast, India’s targeted strikes avoided significant civilian casualties, focusing on militant infrastructure.
The ceasefire, announced by U.S. President Donald Trump on May 10, 2025, came after Pakistan’s Director General of Military Operations reportedly requested de-escalation, a move interpreted as an acknowledgment of India’s battlefield dominance. The Financial Times noted that the ceasefire gave Pakistan a “diplomatic upper hand” due to U.S. intervention, but this was overshadowed by India’s military achievements, which exposed Pakistan’s inability to counter India’s precision offensive.
The information war was where Pakistan invested heavily to salvage its image. Pakistani media outlets and state-affiliated social media accounts flooded platforms with misleading content, from false claims of capturing Indian pilots to fabricated reports of Indian cities under attack. Indian media, while not immune to exaggeration, was quick to counter with evidence-backed rebuttals.
For instance, claims of Pakistani cyberattacks disabling 70 percent of India’s electricity grid were debunked as baseless, with no reported disruptions in India’s power infrastructure. The Indian government banned several Pakistan-based YouTube channels and Instagram accounts for spreading provocative content, further curbing the reach of Islamabad’s propaganda. Fact-checking organizations like Alt News in India and Media Matters for Democracy in Pakistan highlighted the scale of disinformation, with AI-generated deepfakes and recycled videos exacerbating the crisis.
Analysts, including those from the Stimson Center and the Atlantic Council, argue that India achieved its strategic objectives: demonstrating a zero-tolerance policy against terrorism and establishing a new level of deterrence by striking deep into Pakistan. The operation marked a shift in India’s defense doctrine toward self-reliance, with no dependence on U.S. or foreign logistics.
Pakistan, conversely, leaned on symbolic gestures, such as claiming to have downed Indian jets, which experts like Walter Ladwig dismissed as “at best, symbolic victories” with no clear military gain. The Pakistani military’s domestic image, battered by public protests in 2023, saw a temporary boost from the conflict, as evidenced by rallies celebrating Operation Bunyanum Marsoos. However, this surge in popularity was built on a fragile foundation of falsehoods, as exposed by fact-checkers and international media.
The human cost of the standoff was stark, particularly in Kashmir, where 15 civilians died in cross-border shelling. Residents like Lal Din from Poonch expressed frustration at the cycle of temporary ceasefires, noting that the unresolved Kashmir dispute continues to trap civilians in the crossfire. Both nations’ media, ranked low on the World Press Freedom Index, played a role in stoking hostility, with Indian outlets like Zee News and Aaj Tak accused of airing fabricated reports of Pakistani cities under attack, while Pakistani channels peddled equally baseless claims. The absence of independent journalism, coupled with censorship of Kashmiri voices, left truth as a casualty, as noted by The Washington Post.
The 2025 India-Pakistan standoff was a clear demonstration of India’s military and strategic superiority, with Operation Sindoor achieving its objectives of neutralizing terrorist infrastructure and exposing Pakistan’s defensive weaknesses. Pakistan’s claims of victory were a mirage, sustained by a coordinated disinformation campaign that crumbled under scrutiny. The ceasefire, while averting a broader war, did little to resolve the underlying tensions over Kashmir, leaving the region vulnerable to future escalations. For lasting peace, both nations must prioritize truth over propaganda and address the root causes of their rivalry, lest they remain locked in a cycle of conflict and deception.