Govt debunks claims of Indian UAV drone shot in Pakistan, shares evidence

New Delhi, May 8 (IANS) After India launched its 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, as well as government-sponsored social media handles.

The latest lie being peddled by Pakistani handles is the interception of an Indian Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in Pakistan’s Gujranwala region and subsequently shot down by the Pakistan Army.

This comes a day after the Indian Army launched multiple cross-border strikes via niche weapons, including drones, missiles and guided bombs to dismantle terror networks and infrastructure.

Press Information Bureau (PIB), the government’s nodal agency for disseminating information, has fact-checked the fake and baseless narrative being spread by Pakistani handles, pertaining to the drone being intercepted in Gujaranwala.

“The image being circulated is from the Ukraine-Russia conflict in 2022,” informed the PIB on X and also shared a weblink to ascertain the source of the image.

Earlier in the day, the PIB debunked another false narrative by Pakistani media, which claimed that Pakistan has retaliated to Indian military strikes and in response, has hit a military base in Amritsar. A video of an inferno was also shared along with this to corroborate this claim.

The PIB was, however, quick to dig deep and expose the mischievous agenda of Pakistan.

The video was found to be of a wildfire.

"Pakistan-based handles are spreading old videos falsely alleging strikes on a military base in Amritsar. The video being shared is from a wildfire from 2024,” it said and also urged the public to rely only on official sources from the Government of India for accurate information.

Several images and videos shared by Pakistani sources have been either digitally altered or lifted from unrelated incidents, often years old, and repurposed to suggest a fabricated narrative of retaliation and military prowess. Even influential political figures are sharing discredited material and making unsubstantiated claims of victorious counterstrikes.

India’s strikes inside the neighbouring nation have clearly left it rattled and agitated, however, India has maintained that they were ‘measured, calibrated and non-escalatory'.

--IANS

mr/dpb