Pakistan rejects ‘false’ claims over Nangarhar plane downed

Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Saturday dismissed as “false” reports spread by Afghan Taliban officials and amplified by Indian media that Afghan forces had shot down a Pakistani fighter jet in Nangarhar and captured its pilot.

Videos were seen circulating on social media platforms including X.

Pakistani security forces have launched “Operation Ghazab Lil Haq,” carrying out coordinated air and ground strikes against Afghan Taliban positions in Kabul, Kandahar, Paktia and Nangarhar, as well as several other locations, following what officials described as unprovoked cross-border aggression.

The development comes as the military said Pakistan has “effectively repulsed” Afghan Taliban insurgents at 53 locations along the border, inflicting heavy losses while exercising restraint to avoid harm to civilians.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has exposed false propaganda by Afghan and Indian media regarding the alleged capture of a Pakistani pilot.

The Ministry emphasized that all Pakistan Air Force aircraft are accounted for, no losses have been reported and all pilots are safe. In a fact-checking statement, the Pakistani government said there was no official confirmation from Pakistani authorities of any loss of aircraft and that no independent international media outlet, defense monitoring agency or satellite intelligence source had verified the claim.

There is no evidence of loss of aircraft

The narrative was based solely on statements by Afghan officials and selective media amplification.

“There is no visual evidence of the wreckage, the crash site or the captured pilot,” the ministry said, adding that no geolocated images or satellite evidence support the claim. He noted that in modern conflict environments, verified air accidents are often quickly documented, something that has not happened in this case. The ministry further said that videos circulating on social media as alleged evidence of the plane crash were old or unrelated clips.

According to fact-checking, some of the viral images were from an unrelated panic situation in Afghanistan and had been recycled to fit the false narrative.

Image linked to an unrelated incident

A misleading image shared by TOLO Newssaying that the photo of the downed plane was not from Pakistan.

“The image corresponds to a Russian aircraft incident in Turkey in 2021,” the statement said, calling the reuse of images of unrelated foreign accidents a deliberate attempt to construct a false narrative. The ministry said hundreds of fake or misleading videos linked to what it described as an Indian-Afghan propaganda ecosystem had been debunked in the past two days.

Read: Situation and departure of the Afghan Taliban

He added that the claim of the downing of the plane fits the same pattern of coordinated disinformation and that credible defense analysts confirm that Afghan forces do not have the operational capability or air defense systems to shoot down modern Pakistani fighter jets in the manner claimed.

Verdict and advice

The government concluded that the claim that a Pakistani fighter jet was shot down over Nangarhar and the pilot captured is false, and the loss of the plane has not been verified nor is there evidence that any pilot is in custody. The public is advised not to rely on unverified claims about the battlefield circulated through partisan or hostile media and to cross-check information with official Pakistani sources and credible international agencies.

They also advised users to avoid sharing recycled or unverified videos that may be part of coordinated misinformation campaigns.