Pakistan’s HQ-9 air defence missile systems have reportedly sustained serious damage, according to sources in Islamabad, following India’s precision strikes under Operation Sindoor, which targeted nine major terror sites inside Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJK).
While Pakistan’s Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) admitted that 24 impacts were recorded across six locations, its military has since attempted to downplay the damage by launching a misinformation campaign, including unverified claims of downing Indian drones and jets—none of which have been independently verified.
In a bid to deflect attention from its losses, Pakistan has intensified a digital disinformation campaign, flooding social media with recycled images, doctored videos, and fabricated narratives. The Press Information Bureau’s Fact Check unit in India has actively debunked several such attempts, labelling them “Pakistan Propaganda Alerts.”
One of the false claims included an alleged Indian military base strike in Amritsar, which was accompanied by a video actually taken from a 2024 wildfire incident, unrelated to any military action. Another viral image claimed a Rafale jet was shot down, but was proven to be from a 2021 MiG-21 crash in Moga, Punjab.
Even Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif faced embarrassment during a CNN interview, when asked for evidence to support his claim that Pakistan shot down five Indian jets. Asif’s only reference point was “social media”, prompting the anchor to respond, “We didn’t ask you here to talk about social media content.”
These developments underscore a shift in Pakistan’s posturing—from military retaliation to narrative manipulation—as India’s targeted strikes reportedly delivered a severe blow to terror infrastructure and exposed vulnerabilities in Pakistan’s air defence systems.