Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif failed to provide any evidence of his country’s claims of shooting down five Indian fighter jets.
Appearing on CNN for an interview, Asif bizzarely attributed his claims of Paksitan shooting down five Indian jets to evidence on social media.
When asked for evidence of the claim, he responded, "It's all over the social media, on Indian social media, not on our social media. The debris of these jets fell into Kashmir. And it's all over Indian media today and they have admitted."
The anchor replied, "I'm sorry we didn't ask you here to talk about social media content."
When asked further about the details regarding how the fighter jets were shot down and what equipment was used, Asif could not reveal the plane used by Pakistani forces.
Asked about the evidence for the claim and whether Pakistan used Chinese equipment to shoot down Indian jets, he said, "No, Chinese equipment. We have Chinese planes, JF-17 and JF-10. They are Chinese planes, but they are being manufactured, assembled in Pakistan now. We have very close to Islamabad, we have a facility over there where these planes are manufactured and if India can buy planes from France and use them, we can also buy planes from China or Russia or United States, UK and use them."
India dismissed claims on Pakistan social media about 'Operation Sindoor', saying the neighbouring country has unleashed a 'full-blown disinformation offensive' with 'lies' and digital theatrics to control the narrative.
'Following India's decisive strike under 'Operation Sindoor', Pakistan has unleashed a full-blown disinformation offensive -- a desperate attempt to shift the focus and control the narrative with a barrage of lies and digital theatrics,' officials said.
A series of posts by the Press Information Bureau's Fact-Checking Unit said pro-Pakistan social media handles were sharing old photos of crashes of Indian Air Force aircraft and claiming they were shot down by Pakistan during Operation Sindoor on Wednesday.
'Beware of old images shared by pro-Pakistan handles in the present context,' PIB FactCheck said in a post on X.
'The video being shared is from February 2025 and depicts the crash of an Indian Air Force (IAF) Mirage 2000 aircraft near Shivpuri, Gwalior, which occurred during a routine training mission,' it said, referring to social media posts by pro-Pakistan handles about a fighter jet clash.