Information Ministry dismisses Jet downing claim as ‘baseless rumours’

• Ministry says claims traced to Afghan Taliban officials, amplified by Indian media

• Says no aircraft loss reported by Pakistan’s armed forces, nor any satellite, geolocated imagery or crash debris found

• Foreign Office also calls pilot capture claim “totally untrue”

 ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MOIB) on Saturday firmly rejected claims that a Pakistani fighter jet was shot down in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province and that its pilot was captured, dismissing the reports as baseless rumours “amplified by Indian media”.

In a statement issued through its official fact-check account on X, the ministry said the allegations originated from officials of the Afghan Taliban and were subsequently amplified by Indian media outlets and Afghan propaganda platforms.

🔎 Fact Check | Ministry of Information & Broadcasting

Title: False Report by Afghan News Agencies amplified by Indian Media outlets & khaleej Times about “Pakistani Jet Shot Down in Nangarhar; Pilot Captured”

🟠 Claim (circulated by Afghan Taliban officials & amplified by… pic.twitter.com/698PtX86fv

— Fact Checker MoIB (@FactCheckerMoIB) February 28, 2026

“The Ministry of Defence of the so-called Islamic Emirate claimed that Afghan forces shot down a Pakistani fighter jet in Nangarhar and captured its pilot alive, while Indian media and Afghan propaganda outlets widely amplified this unfounded claim,” the statement said, adding that the narrative relied solely on assertions by Afghan officials and selective media amplification.

The ministry said Pakistan’s armed forces had not reported any aircraft loss, stressing that no independent international media outlet or defence monitoring agency had verified the claim. It added that there was no visual evidence of crash debris, a wreckage site or a captured pilot.

“No geolocated imagery or satellite evidence supports the claim,” it said, noting that in modern conflict environments, verified aircraft crashes are rapidly documented. “No such evidence exists in this case.”

The ministry further clarified that viral footage circulating on social media as supposed evidence of a jet crash was linked to an unrelated panic situation in Afghanistan. “Multiple videos used in the narrative are old clips being recycled to fit the false claim,” it said.

It also pointed to a misleading image shared by TOLO News, stating that the image actually corresponded to a Russian aircraft incident in Turkey in 2021. “Reusing unrelated foreign crash imagery is a deliberate attempt to construct a false narrative,” the ministry said.

According to the statement, hundreds of fake or misleading videos linked to what it described as the India–Afghan propaganda ecosystem had been debunked over the past two days. “The current jet claim fits into the same coordinated disinformation cycle. No credible defence analysis suggests Afghan forces possess the operational capability demonstrated in the claim,” it added.

Meanwhile, Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Hussain Andrabi also rejected the Afghan claims, calling them “totally untrue”.

“That’s a false claim. Totally untrue,” Andrabi told AFP.