It is an ongoing masterclass in fake news and propaganda.
Pakistani media conducted a masterclass in fake news on Wednesday, when several media houses aired footage and pictures of two Indian Air Force planes that the Pakistani military claimed it had shot down. The two planes shown in Pakistani media were IAF jets that had crashed in Jodhpur in 2016 and in Odisha in 2015.
Pakistani media also showed a video clip of an Indian Air Force pilot it claimed was flying an aircraft that was shot down. The pilot in that video is indeed an officer of the Indian Air Force, and was one of those who had survived the twin crash of the Suryakiran aerobatics display team in Bengaluru on February 19.
The peddling of fake news by the Pakistani media went on the air just before a press conference by Pakistani military spin chief Major General Asif Gafoor.
It was fake news that was child's play for fact checkers to debunk. Shots of both the aircraft that Pakistani media said were IAF jets that the military had shot down clearly showed the tail numbers of the aircraft. Tails numbers are unique for each and every plane - military or civilian - that are cleared to fly, and can easily be tracked online.
The two IAF jets shown on Pakistani media had the tail numbers TU657 and A3492. The first was an IAF Mikoyan MiG-27MU which crashed in Jodhpur on June 12, 2016. The second, A3492, was a Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer which crashed on June 3, 2015 in Odisha's Mayurbhanj.
The video clip that Pakistani media showed of an IAF pilot claimed to have been arrested too screamed of a shoddy fake news job. The pilot was Wing Commander Vijay Shelke, one of two pilots who safely ejected after two Surya Kiran aerobatic display aircraft collided mid-air in Bengaluru.
With tensions running high on both sides of the border, Pakistani media seem to be under a thicker fog of war, similar to what had happened during the Kargil conflict.
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 "The images of old IAF crashes used by Pakistani media.")
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