'It's on social media,' says Pakistan's defence minister on claim of downing Indian fighter jets

As tensions between India and Pakistan escalated, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif continued to peddle false claims of downing five Indian fighter jets. During a conversation with CNN’s Becky Anderson, Asif cried foul about Operation Sindoor, which was conducted by the Indian forces against nine Pakistani terror camps.

When asked about the proof of the claims that Pakistan downed Indian fighter jets, the defence minister simply attributed it to social media without delivering any solid evidence. “It is all on social media, and Indian social media, not our social media. The debris of the jets fell on their side. It is all over the Indian media,” he claimed when CNN’s Anderson pressed for proof.

In the early hours of Wednesday, the Indian military conducted a tri-service mission called Operation Sindoor, attacking nine terrorist targets in Pakistan. The precision strikes were conducted as a response to the devastating Pahalgam terror attack in Kashmir that led to the death of 26 people on April 22.

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Pakistan continues to spread misinformation

While Pakistan acknowledged the strikes and reported 30 casualties, the country’s social media and especially top leaders started spreading false claims about the attack. In light of this, the fact-checking team of India’s Press Information Bureau (PIB) shared numerous tweets in which they explained how Pakistani social media are sharing old and unrelated photos of crashed aircraft, claiming that they were downed Rafale.

“Beware of old images shared by pro-Pakistan handles in the present context! An old image showing a crashed aircraft is being circulated with the claim that Pakistan recently shot down an Indian Rafale jet near Bahawalpur during the ongoing Operation Sindoor. #PIBFactCheck: This image is from an earlier incident involving an IAF Mig-21 fighter jet that crashed in Moga district in Punjab in 2021,” the bureau wrote on its X handle.

⚠️Propaganda Alert!

Beware of old images shared by pro-Pakistan handles in the present context!

An #old image showing a crashed aircraft is being circulated with the claim that Pakistan recently shot down an Indian Rafale jet near Bahawalpur during the ongoing #OperationSindoor… pic.twitter.com/LdkJ1JYuH0

— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) May 7, 2025

2 different rhetorics

During the CNN interview, Asif said that Pakistan will “try to avoid a full-fledged war” with India. However, he maintained that the country would retaliate. “There is a possibility of expansion of this conflict into a full-fledged war, which we are trying to avoid,” Asif told the American news outlet.

“The attack early Wednesday was a clear-cut violation, and an invitation to expand the conflict and maybe convert it into something much wider and much more dangerous for the region,” he added. While speaking to international media, Asif claimed that the country will “avoid war” with India, showcasing a pacifist image.

Things completely changed when he spoke to the media of his own country, where he continued to take an aggressive stance on the matter. In an interview with Geo News, the Pakistani defence minister said that the country is planning to hit military targets in India. “We will never target civilians,” he said in the Geo News interview. “We will abide by international law. We will contain this international confrontation to military targets only," he furthered.

What is interesting is the fact that while Asif is preaching about Pakistan respecting international law, a few weeks ago, he admitted that the establishment in Islamabad had fostered and funded terrorist organisations like Lashkar-e-Taiba, the terrorist group whose offshoot claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam terror attack.