‘Psychological warfare’: Govt debunks Pakistani disinformation on missile, drone attacks on Jalandhar, Amritsar

The government has said Pakistan is indulging in psychological warfare to instill fear in Indians. Many social media users have fallen to such disinformation, the result of coordinated efforts from Pakistan. It cited the examples of a drone attack in Jalandhar, a missile attack by Pakistan, attack in Amritsar, as well as banning entry into airports. 

“A barrage of coordinated disinformation has been carried out by certain social media handles in general and mainstream media in particular in Pakistan with the sole objective to instil fear among the Indian masses. This psychological warfare has been actively debunked by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) for the last few weeks. In addition, Indian media and social media users have been falling for misinformation. The fact-check unit of PIB put the record straight and debunked misinformation, disinformation and outright lies,” said PIB in a statement. 

It cited the example of a drone attack video in Jalandhar that swiftly went viral. It was found that the video was that of a farm fire. 

In yet another video, it was claimed that the Pakistani army destroyed an Indian post. It was found to be staged and there is no unit called “20 Raj Battalion" in the Indian army. 

An old video from an explosion in Beirut, Lebanon from 2020 was repurposed to show that Pakistan launched a missile attack on India. 

No fidayeen or suicide attack occurred on any army cantonment, it said. Pakistan spread disinformation about a fidayeen attack on an army brigade in Rajouri. 

A letter from Chief of the Army Staff (CoAS) Gen VK Narayan was being circulated regarding military preparedness to the Army officer of Northern Command. Narayan is not the CoAS and the letter was found to be fake. 

A social media post stated that the Indian military used Ambala Airbase to attack Amritsar and its own citizens, which was found to be completely baseless. 

Unlike the disinformation spread on social media, entry into airports has not been banned across India, and no such decision was taken by the government.