India strongly responded to the brutal terrorist attack on tourists in Pahalgam through Operation Sindoor. Shocked by this unexpected military action, Pakistan immediately launched a fake propaganda campaign.

In reaction to Operation Sindoor, Pakistan falsely claimed that it had carried out attacks in 15 areas of India and had shot down a Rafale fighter jet. It even shared photos on social media, claiming they showed the downed jet. However, India quickly fact-checked these claims and strongly refuted them.

The Press Information Bureau’s (PIB) Fact Check team stated that old photos were being widely shared on pro-Pakistani social media accounts. They clarified that the photos were not from the current incident, but were actually from 2021, showing an IAF MiG-21 fighter jet that crashed accidentally in Moga district of Punjab. These photos were now being wrongly shared as if a Rafale jet had been shot down.

Pakistan’s fake news campaign has been ongoing since Wednesday morning. Claims that the Pakistan Army destroyed two Indian Army bases after Operation Sindoor are also being shared. However, fact-checks revealed that the related videos were actually from clashes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, in 2024.