How Indian News Channels Created a Narrative of War

ISLAMABAD: On May 8, several prominent Indian news platforms disseminated a wave of false and misleading information, eager to tarnish Pakistan’s image.

“The organized disinformation effort on May 8 aimed at stirring nationalist sentiments didn’t originate from social media trolls but was instead a deluge of misleading narratives broadcast by major media networks with vast audiences,” explained TRT Global, an international news agency.

This onslaught of falsehoods triggered rare self-reflection from notable commentators. Indian author Basant Maheshwari, who has a significant online presence, publicly apologized: “I have NEVER deleted tweets before, but today I’m removing all the tweets I made without checking the claims from our Indian media outlets. I’m not just upset about tweeting but because I mistakenly trusted what I saw!”

Let’s take a look at some of the most absurd lies and false assertions put forth by Indian mainstream media channels that Thursday.

On that day, Indian channel DNA shockingly tweeted from its official X account: “India attacks the Pakistani capital, Islamabad!” The post was promptly deleted without an explanation. Shortly after, Zee News echoed claims that “the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, has been occupied!”

The hysteria escalated when Aaj Tak staged a military assault on Karachi Port, broadcasting a fake depiction of destruction as though covering an actual operation.

India Today then joined the chaos, alleging that India had launched attacks on both Lahore and Karachi. Times Now Bharat took things even further, engaging a retired Indian military officer to lend credibility to their dramatized coverage.

“The theatrics of the coverage were so exaggerated that they provoked both mockery and concern,” noted an international news agency.

Among the most outrageous falsehoods was a report from ABP News, wrongly claiming that Pakistani Army Chief General Asim Munir had been detained.

Disinformation reached comical levels when Zee News aired visuals suggesting the Pakistani Army had surrendered after Indian forces “captured multiple major cities.” Concurrent visuals showed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif hiding in a bunker and surrendering to Indian forces within the same broadcast.

Originally published in The News