Competing press briefings. Divergent claims. And conflicting narratives.
As Indian attacks on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir early in the morning on May 7 pulled the nuclear-armed neighbours to the brink of a potential military conflict, a parallel war quickly broke out — over information.
Within hours of the Indian strikes, authorities on both sides put out claims and counterclaims that have been amplified on social media as each country tries to control the narrative in its favour.
Five Indian jets were downed, Pakistan said, for instance. India has yet to respond to the claim: Officials who requested anonymity confirmed that three jets had crashed in Indian-administered Kashmir, but did not confirm whether they were Indian or Pakistani planes.
Here is a look at what both India and Pakistan have claimed so far — and how they have a history of competing narratives that often allow them to each assert wins over the other to their respective domestic audiences, while making independent verification of the truth harder.
What was targeted?
India said its forces hit “terrorist infrastructure” at nine sites in response to last month’s deadly shooting attack in Pahalgam in India-administered Kashmir. India blamed Pakistan for the Pahalgam attack, in which 26 civilians were killed. Islamabad denied the charges and asked India to provide evidence to back up its claims.
Pakistan said Indian forces on Wednesday hit six cities in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir and a health centre.
Pakistan said civilians were killed, including a three-year-old girl.
But Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said his forces did not harm civilians. In a news briefing, Indian air force Wing Commander Vyomika Singh said the strikes led to “no collateral damage” and had been conducted through “precision capability”.
Did Indian forces hoist a white flag at LoC?
The Pakistani government on its official X account said Indian soldiers raised a white flag, a common symbol of surrender, at a military post along the Line of Control, the de facto border that divides Indian-administered and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
Pakistani Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar echoed the claim on his X account, posting: “First they fled from the investigation, now they fled from the field.”
Indian authorities have yet to formally address the claim, but as India and Pakistan are not officially at war, it is unclear why New Delhi might feel the need to surrender.
Were warplanes downed? How many? And who did they belong to?
Pakistan military spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said five Indian jets had been downed, all within Indian territory, with planes from neither side crossing into the other’s airspace.
According to Indian security sources who spoke to Al Jazeera, three fighter jets have been downed inside Indian-controlled territory. However, it was not clear whether they were Pakistani or Indian warplanes.
While there has been no comment from the federal government, the Indian embassy in China dismissed claims of Indian jets being brought down in Chinese state media outlet Global Times as “disinformation”.
History of conflicting claims
Previous escalations between India and Pakistan have also generated conflicting claims and accusations, often leaving observers to ponder which account — if either — reflects the truth.
In February 2019, Indian forces said they had hit a large number of “JeM [Jaish-e-Muhammad] terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis” in Balakot in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, weeks after a suicide attack killed 40 members of the security forces in India-administered Kashmir’s Pulwama.
Formed in 2000, JeM has carried out numerous attacks on Indian forces in India-administered Kashmir. Both India and Pakistan have designated the armed group as a “terrorist organisation”, but its leader Masood Azhar has been allowed to operate in Pakistan. His current whereabouts are unknown.
Pakistan, which denied having a role in the Pulwama attack, said the Indian air attacks in 2019 hit an uninhabited forest.
Similarly, in 2016, Pakistan rejected India’s claims of “surgical strikes” against “terrorist units” on its territory after an attack on an Indian army base that killed 18 soldiers in Uri in India-administered Kashmir.
The Pakistani military called the claims an “illusion” and said India had engaged in nothing more than “cross-border fire, … which is an existential phenomenon”.
Leave a comment