Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar made a mistake during a speech in the Senate about the India-Pakistan clashes. He quoted a fake news report that was shared by some groups in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The fake report was later checked and proven false by Pakistani media itself.
Dar, who is also the foreign minister, praised the Pakistani military on May 15 and said, “Telegraph writes, Pakistan Air Force is the undisputed king of the skies.” But the news he mentioned was a photoshopped front page of The Daily Telegraph newspaper. The headline showed, “Pakistan Air Force: The undisputed king of the skies,” with a picture of a Pakistani fighter jet called JF-17 Thunder. The date on the fake newspaper page was May 10.This mistake shows how misinformation can spread, even within official speeches.
The real front page of The Daily Telegraph on May 10 had a headline about the Navy chief quitting over an affair. There was no mention of Pakistan or its Air Force. Since then, some Pakistani social media accounts shared a fake image praising the Pakistan Air Force. Even Pakistan’s military spokesperson, Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, posted this false image, which was later flagged as AI-generated and removed.
After India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Pakistani officials spread false information using altered videos. Some Western media believed these false claims. However, Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar was misled by this fake news during his Senate speech. Both Indian and Pakistani media later fact-checked and exposed the falsehood. India’s Press Information Bureau said Dar’s use of the fake image gave official support to a digital lie.
The Dawn newspaper’s fact-check team found the report to be fake.You don’t even need fact-checking to know that a British newspaper wouldn’t put such a story about the Pakistan Air Force on its front page unless it was an ad. But like someone blinded by love, Ishaq Dar did not see this.That’s why the Deputy Prime Minister of Pakistan said The Daily Telegraph called the PAF “the undisputed king of the skies.”
There are many lessons for Pakistan from India’s Operation Sindoor and how Pakistan responded. One important lesson is that spreading false information can even trick your own leaders.