News Desk
The smoldering tensions between India and Pakistan, nuclear-armed neighbors with a history of enmity, have flared into their most dangerous confrontation in decades. Pakistan’s recent moves, marked by drone incursions, missile attacks, and a torrent of misinformation, reveal a strategy that is as provocative as it is destabilizing.
On May 9 and 10, Pakistani forces deployed swarms of drones and high-speed Fateh missiles, targeting air bases in Punjab, including Pathankot, Udhampur, and Sirsa, as well as sites in Jammu and Kashmir. Indian officials reported multiple explosions in the Kashmir Valley and Amritsar, with the Indian Army intercepting drones over Khasa Cantt at 5 a.m. on May 10. Pakistan’s military claimed these strikes were retaliatory, citing Indian attacks on its Nur Khan, Murid, and Rafiqui air bases. Yet, Islamabad’s assertions of precision and proportionality are undercut by reports of civilian casualties—16 in Jammu and Kashmir alone, according to Indian sources—and damage to non-military sites, including a residential building on May 10.
The latest spiral began with a horrific terrorist attack on April 22, 2025, in Pahalgam, Indian-administered Kashmir, where 26 civilians, mostly tourists, were killed. India pointed the finger at Pakistan-backed militants, a charge Islamabad denied. What followed was a series of military strikes and counterstrikes, with Pakistan’s actions—both on the battlefield and in the information war—drawing sharp scrutiny for their recklessness and obfuscation.
The military dimension of Pakistan’s response has been brazen. Since May 7, when India launched “Operation Sindoor,” targeting what it described as terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Islamabad has retaliated with a series of attacks aimed at Indian military installations.
Pakistan’s escalation is not confined to the physical battlefield. Its disinformation campaign has been equally aggressive, flooding social media with false narratives designed to muddy the waters and rally domestic support. The Press Information Bureau (PIB) of India has been working overtime to debunk these claims, identifying at least eight viral videos and posts between May 8 and 9 as fabricated or unrelated.
One widely circulated video, falsely captioned as a Pakistani attack on India, was revealed to be footage of a military drill. Another claimed a cyberattack had crippled 70% of India’s power grid—a lie swiftly debunked by the PIB.
Pakistani media outlets like Geo News and ARY News have amplified unverified stories, alleging the interception of 25 to 29 Indian drones and the use of Israeli-made Harop drones by India, without providing evidence. Such claims, often echoed by government-linked social media accounts, aim to portray Pakistan as a victim of Indian aggression while shielding its own actions from scrutiny.
This disinformation is not merely a sideshow; it’s a calculated tactic to shape perceptions at home and abroad. By framing India’s strikes as indiscriminate attacks on civilians—Pakistan falsely claimed 33 civilian deaths from India’s May 7 strikes—Islamabad seeks to deflect attention from its own role in escalating the conflict. Posts on social media have accused Pakistan of spreading images of demolished houses, misrepresenting them as evidence of Indian atrocities in Kashmir. Others allege fabricated stories of strikes on Karachi Port or the capture of Pakistani pilots in Jaisalmer. These narratives, often laced with communal undertones, risk inflaming tensions within India, where one user warned Pakistan was “trying to incite a communal riot” through its propaganda.
Pakistan’s leadership, including Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, has dismissed Indian accusations of drone attacks as “baseless and misleading,” insisting Pakistan has not undertaken offensive actions beyond its borders. Yet, this denialism strains credulity when weighed against the physical evidence, debris from intercepted drones and missiles collected by Indian forces, and the testimony of independent analysts.
Shuja Nawaz, a South Asia expert, noted that both sides are using drones to probe each other’s defenses, but Pakistan’s targeting of India’s Punjab heartland, far from the disputed Kashmir border, signals a willingness to widen the conflict’s scope. This move, analysts warn, could push the region toward a broader war, with catastrophic consequences given the nuclear arsenals on both sides.
The international community, including the G7 and China, has urged restraint, condemning the Pahalgam attack while calling for de-escalation. But Pakistan’s actions suggest a different calculus. Its military, under General Asim Munir, appears to be doubling down, possibly to shore up domestic legitimacy amid economic woes and political instability.
Sources cited by The Times of India speculate that Munir, who orchestrated the 2019 Pulwama attack as ISI chief, may be planning terror strikes to compensate for Pakistan’s failure to breach India’s air defenses. This pattern of provocation—military escalation paired with disinformation—fits a historical playbook: stoke conflict to unify a fractious nation, then cloak it in denial.
As the fog of war thickens, the world watches anxiously, hoping cooler heads prevail before this deadly dance spirals out of control.
