- Minister also declares reports of Pakistan pilot under Indian custody ‘totally false, concocted’
ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar has rejected Indian claims about shooting down Pakistani F-16 and JF-17 Thunder fighter jets, describing the claims as “absurd and false.”
In a statement post on X, the minister said, “Fake and concocted stories will get you nowhere. Such false claims only reflect your desperation. Denied and rejected.”
Indian news outlet NDTV earlier reported quoting sources, “an F-16 supersonic fighter jet of the Pakistan Air Force was shot down in the evening by an Indian surface-to-air missile defence system”.
The development came amid a viral video of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry being shared by Indian propaganda accounts in which he could be heard saying that two JF-17 jets were shot down.
The same video was reported by The Times of India, but it later removed the content from its article. However, the old text could be seen in the cache when the article was searched for on Google.
However, the DG ISPR has made no such press briefing in the days since the escalation with India.
State broadcaster PTV News also shared a screenshot of the viral video and said: “News circulating regarding senior Pakistani Army official citing downing of Pakistani jets are false and fake”.
It said the posts had used AI to spread disinformation.
The Information Minister also declared reports of Pakistan pilot under Indian custody “totally false, concocted.”
In a response to Indian reports that a Pakistani pilot was in Indian custody, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar strongly rejected them, saying that they were “totally false and concocted”.
“Get out of your B-tier Bollywood mindset,” the information minister said in an interview with a TV channel.
Meanwhile, the Information and Broadcasting Minister said that Pakistan has not targeted any location in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir or across international border so far, nor has any loss been incurred by Pakistan Air Force.
In a statement on X, he said Indian media is spreading disinformation to craft a fake notion of success, after facing embarrassing losses during their unprovoked aggression.
The Minister urged the international community to take note of the situation as Pakistan has only given defensive response so far.
Earlier, Indian journalist Barkha Dutt reported in a post on X: “A Pakistani pilot is in Indian custody — more details awaited.”
PTV News dispels ‘fake information’ about attack on Lahore
Meanwhile, state broadcaster PTV News stated that there is no attack on Lahore and Pakistan has lost no aircraft, in a series of posts urging the public to avoid disinformation.
Indian social media accounts have been posting misleading reports of an attack on Lahore, with some posts captioned, “India attacked Pakistan Lahore” and “Breaking News From Pakistan Lahore”.
At 10:10pm, PTV News posted to X warning Pakistanis about false information being spread by “enemy media outlets”.
“Enemy media outlets are spreading fake news of Lahore being attacked. No such event has been reported by concerned authorities and/or official government channels,” the broadcaster wrote.
“Please be aware of disinformation being used by the enemy to create panic,” the post concluded.
