Indian Media’s Misinformation Surge After Pahalgam Attack

• Misleading video falsely associated with IIOJK victims debunked.
• AI-generated images misrepresented in Pahalgam tragedy reports.
• Victims’ identities distorted in viral posts across social media.

As diplomatic tensions escalate between Pakistan and India following a deadly attack on tourists in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), a troubling influx of misinformation and digitally manipulated content has emerged on Indian social media platforms. Much of this content aims to mislead, provoke, and obscure the truth.

The tragic attack in Pahalgam, which resulted in the deaths of 26 tourists last month, has not only intensified geopolitical hostilities but also led to a surge of viral fake news and AI-generated images.

As reported by France 24 News, numerous widely shared posts have incorrectly identified victims and misrepresented events, further fueling confusion and polarizing public opinion in India.

One notable example is a viral video of a couple dancing in Pahalgam, erroneously claimed to depict the final moments of the late Lieutenant Vinay Narwal and his wife. This video was widely circulated and picked up by various Indian news outlets.

However, the couple featured in the video, Ashish and Yashika Sehrawat, later clarified that the footage had no connection to the victims of the attack. They addressed the issue on Instagram, sharing the video’s metadata with AFP to confirm it was filmed about a week prior to the incident. Though they shared it on the same day as the attack, it was unrelated, and they ultimately removed it from their account due to the false associations.

Besides misleading video content, AI-generated images that purportedly depict victims and the aftermath of the tragedy have also gained substantial attention.

France 24 News highlighted inconsistencies in one such set of AI-generated images that claimed to show bodies in a mountainous area, identifying uneven proportions and distorted facial features—including irregular nostrils and altered background figures.

Reverse image searches revealed no credible sources for the images, and multiple AI detection tools confirmed their synthetic origins. Some versions carried a Meta AI logo, although many circulating copies had the watermark removed.

Another widely circulated pair of AI-generated images appeared to show a grieving woman, online identified as the widow of Lieutenant Narwal. These visuals, which exhibited an unnatural, waxy texture, were also confirmed through detection tools to be entirely synthetic.

While they were based on a genuine photo used in Indian media to represent the tragedy, the images had been manipulated to create stylized or enhanced versions.

France 24 News concluded that the use of AI-generated visuals and out-of-context media linked to the Pahalgam attack is exacerbating tensions between Pakistan and India, as misinformation continues to spread across social networks in the aftermath of the tragedy.