The situation between India and Pakistan took a sharp turn after the horrifying April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack, which killed innocent civilians and once again brought Pakistan-sponsored terrorism into global focus. India’s response, named Operation Sindoor, was fast, strategic, and most importantly—undeniably successful. It was not just a military mission; it was a masterclass in modern warfare where facts fought lies, and precision defeated propaganda.

At the center of this storm stood National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, a man known for his clarity, composure, and credibility. Speaking at IIT Madras, Doval issued a bold challenge to the world: “Show me one photo of Indian damage, even a glass being broken.” This wasn’t said in anger or arrogance—it was a calm but firm response to the wave of lies flooding media channels and social platforms, mostly originating from Pakistan’s military propaganda units and echoed by their sympathizers in the international press.

This single sentence laid bare the heart of the conflict: not bullets, but beliefs; not bombs, but narratives. And Doval’s words tore right through the falsehoods.

Pakistan had been claiming success in its so-called retaliation. But as Doval highlighted, not a single image, not even a cracked window pane, was shown to prove any such damage in India. What was circulating online were doctored images, misattributed videos, and footage from unrelated incidents—an embarrassing attempt at deception. It revealed how Pakistan’s real strategy wasn't warfare but warfare theater, played out on Twitter and televised across channels without a shred of evidence.

Doval’s challenge wasn’t just rhetorical—it exposed a deeply orchestrated campaign of misinformation aimed at confusing the public and winning sympathy abroad. But in reality, it was Pakistan’s credibility that came crashing down.

Operation Sindoor: A New Standard in Indian Precision Warfare

Ajit Doval didn’t stop at exposing lies—he laid out clear facts about the mission. According to him, Operation Sindoor successfully hit nine high-value terror targets located deep inside Pakistani territory. These were not random locations. Among them were critical hubs like Bahawalpur, known to host Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) operatives, and Muridke, the home base of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). These are the same organizations responsible for multiple deadly attacks on Indian soil.

What made this mission exceptional was its speed and accuracy. The entire operation lasted only 23 minutes. In less time than a TV episode, India had struck at the root of terrorism without stepping over the line of civilian harm. Satellite images later confirmed the destruction, validating every claim made by Indian officials. It wasn’t just a success—it was surgical.

And this precision was not achieved using borrowed tools. Doval proudly revealed that the operation was carried out using entirely indigenous technology. From navigation systems to targeting mechanisms, every component used was Made in India. This was not just a counterattack—it was a demonstration of India’s technological self-reliance in high-stakes combat. It marked a significant shift in India’s military doctrine—from border clashes to proactive strikes deep within hostile territory, where the source of terror truly resides.

Doval also called out the role of the Western media, particularly outlets like The New York Times, who irresponsibly echoed Pakistan’s false claims of retaliation. These publications, instead of demanding evidence from Pakistan, parroted official statements without scrutiny. Yet the irony is hard to ignore: “foreign media’s reports were contradicted by evidence,” Doval stated. In fact, the same satellite images published by these Western outlets ended up confirming India’s version of the story. They intended to challenge India’s claim, but unintentionally ended up supporting it.

Exposing Pakistan’s Fake News Machine

Pakistan’s military media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), along with thousands of loyal accounts on social media, launched a coordinated fake news campaign. Their objective was simple: project imaginary victories to divert attention from the real damage suffered during Operation Sindoor.

They made two grand claims. First, they boasted that they had shot down Indian fighter jets, including the cutting-edge Rafales, and had even captured Indian pilots. Second, they said they had bombed important Indian military installations, such as the Srinagar Airbase and an Army Brigade Headquarters. To the uninformed global audience, it might have sounded convincing—until you looked at the so-called “evidence.”

One of the most viral images allegedly showed a wrecked Rafale fighter. But soon, it was exposed as a fraud. The image was actually from a MiG-29 training crash that happened in September 2024 in Rajasthan. It had nothing to do with Sindoor. The CEO of Dassault Aviation, makers of Rafale, Eric Trappier, addressed this lie directly, saying: “What Pakistan is claiming about downing three Rafales is simply not true.”

That should have ended the discussion. But the propaganda circus continued. Pro-Pakistan users on social media shared footage of the 2020 Beirut explosion, claiming it was a strike on India. Others posted clips from the video game Battlefield 3, pretending it was footage of Pakistani drone attacks. In another bizarre attempt, a video of sectarian violence in Pakistan itself was passed off as a strike on the Srinagar Airbase.

It wasn’t just misleading—it was embarrassing.

The Engineered Lies Behind Pakistan’s Digital Warfare

The entire disinformation operation was planned and aggressive. ISPR-linked accounts, many with verified badges, flooded social media with doctored visuals and dramatic hashtags. Within hours, some of these posts had crossed 3 million views, going viral before fact-checkers could even catch up.

And it wasn’t just rogue accounts doing the dirty work. Mainstream Pakistani news channels picked up these posts without any fact-checking and broadcast them as breaking news. The pattern followed the same script as 2019, after the Balakot airstrikes, when Pakistan denied the loss of an F-16 fighter jet, even though it was confirmed by U.S. officials.

During Operation Sindoor, the script didn’t change. The Rafale wreckage? From an older MiG-29 crash. The Srinagar Airbase strike video? Actually from internal riots in Pakistan. And their final claim—of destroying 15 Indian targets in retaliation—was completely baseless. Satellite images showed zero damage. Nothing. Not even cracked paint.

It was all digital noise, designed to confuse the global narrative.

Narrative is the New Battlefield – India Holds the Edge

Ajit Doval’s challenge was not about boasting military power. It was about pointing to the dangerous imbalance in how truth is shared and consumed today. He warned of an age where information asymmetry could be as harmful as actual war. In his words and evidence, India revealed how it fights—not just with missiles, but with transparency and proof.

Doval’s statements highlighted a crucial point: India shares its truth with evidence. Pakistan hides behind smoke and mirrors. And when the smoke clears, what’s left standing is the credibility of one and the collapse of another.

India’s reliance on homegrown technology and real-time satellite intelligence gave it the edge—not just on the battlefield, but in the narrative war that followed. This independence from foreign surveillance systems or outsourced targeting gave India the confidence to tell the world exactly what happened—and then show it.

Operation Sindoor is not just a military success. It’s a global case study on modern war strategy—where the real victory lies not just in territory seized, but in truth defended.

In today’s digital age, where deepfakes and AI-generated lies are becoming weapons of war, verifying claims is no longer just a journalistic responsibility—it is a global necessity. And in that space, India stands strong. As Ajit Doval rightly said, “We missed none, and hit nowhere else.”

In that statement lies the truth of India’s precision. And in Pakistan’s response lies their repeated failure—to defend, to retaliate, and most of all—to tell the truth.