False alarm: PIB refutes video claiming Pakistani strike on Indian military base

The fact-check unit of the Press Information Bureau (PIB), which has been rebutting fake news and lies being spread by some social media accounts regarding ‘Operation Sindoor’ and its aftereffects, has exposed yet another lie being spread by such accounts. In a post on X, PIB’s fact-check unit rebutted a video and post being shared.

The fact-check unit of the Press Information Bureau (PIB), which has been rebutting fake news and lies being spread by some social media accounts regarding ‘Operation Sindoor’ and its aftereffects, has exposed yet another lie being spread by such accounts.

In a post on X, PIB’s fact-check unit rebutted a video and post being shared by an account with username @Shamii_awan1. The post said that it was a video of Pakistan “striking a military base in Amritsar”. “Numerous casualties reported, with several critically injured,” the post read, which seemingly carried a video showing fire.

PIB’s fact-check unit labelled the post as “fake” and called it “Pakistan Propaganda Alert”. It also clarified that the video is of a wildfire in 2024 and is not related to any military action in Amritsar.

The unit also urged people to not fall for such posts and rely on only official sources for accurate information.

“Pakistan-based handles are spreading old videos falsely alleging strikes on a military base in Amritsar. #PIBFactCheck: The video being shared is from a wildfire from 2024. Avoid sharing unverified information and rely only on official sources from the Government of India for accurate information,” PIB’s fact unit said in a post on X.

This is just one of many such posts called out by PIB’s fact-check unit ever since India conducted ‘Operation Sindoor’ and hit nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) in the early hours of Wednesday.

Before this, the unit also called out another post that claimed that the Indian Army waved white flags at the Line of Control to “retrieve bodies of their dead soldiers”. Calling the video and the post fake, the fact-check unit said that the video was in fact of the Pakistan army raising white flags at the LoC to retrieve bodies of their soldiers in September 2019.

“An old video from September 2019 of the #Pakistan Army raising white flag at LOC to recover bodies of its dead soldiers is being shared by Pakistani handles with the false claim that it is #IndianArmy waving white flags at LOC to retrieve bodies of its soldiers,” said the PIB unit.

Several such videos have been surfacing online, making it difficult to separate what is true and what is not.

Operation Sindoor was conducted to avenge the deaths of 26 people, mostly Hindu men, in terror attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22.