Pakistan FM cites ‘fake news’ to claim advantage over India in Senate, local media fact-checks

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has praised the country’s air force by quoting a fake page of the UK-based The Daily Telegraph. In his address to Pakistan’s Senate on Thursday, Dar said, “Telegraph writes Pakistan Air Force is the undisputed king of the skies”.

The newspaper page quoted by Dar was a fake page viral on social media. Pakistan newspaper The Dawn’s iVerify Pakistan team investigated the content, found discrepancies in the viral photo, and determined that the information was false. It analysed through its tools and checked the British Publication ‘The Daily Telegraph’ to see if it had shared any such news story.

Posts from multiple users across social media have been sharing the photo since May 10, allegedly showing the front page of The Daily Telegraph newspaper declaring the Pakistan Air Force the “King of the Skies” amid the recent escalation with India. However, no such article was published in the newspaper and the screenshot is fake, Dawn reported.

#Pakistan was once again caught peddling lies after Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar misled the Senate by citing a Telegraph headline claiming the PAF was the “Undisputed King of the Skies.” Pakistan’s newspaper Dawn later fact-checked and debunked his claim as false.… pic.twitter.com/tk2mjQj5up

— DD News (@DDNewslive) May 16, 2025

The Dawn, conducted a fact-check to determine the veracity of the claim made in the newspaper due to its virality and keen public interest in the international coverage of the recent tensions between Pakistan and India.

While analysing the viral image, the team found multiple discrepancies, including spelling errors, mistyped and jumped sentences and language inconsistencies. Words like “Fyaw…” instead of “Force” and “preformance” instead of “performance” are incorrect, “Aur Force” appears instead of “Air Force” and “advancemend” instead of “advancement” is incorrect. These typographical and spelling mistakes are inconsistent with the editorial standards of a mainstream newspaper, Dawn reported.

The layout of the page was compared to the official version of The Daily Telegraph. The image of the article is fake and no such article has been published by the UK-based publication.

The fact check was also echoed my multiple Pakistan based voices. Imran Mukhtar a journalist with The Nation posted, “How fake news overshadows the truth: Earlier today, Deputy PM & Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar cited this false news, during his speech on the floor of the Senate, to support claims of PAF’s dominance over India. No doubt, the PAF did dominate — but the image in question is fake.”

Another X user, Abdul Wasey Naik posted, “Many credible journalists in Pakistan shared and quoted this image throughout the day, claiming it to be the front page of The Daily Telegraph with the headline “Pakistan Air Force: The Undisputed King of the Skies.” This picture is AI-generated”.

After India launched Operation Sindoor against Terror targets in Pakistan, the Pakistani side jumped into a misinformation war against India. This showed Pakistan’s desperate attempt to shift the focus with a barrage of lies and digital theatrics.

Pakistan’s state-affiliated accounts also turned to their familiar playbook of recycling outdated images, misrepresenting old videos, and inventing completely fabricated claims to flood the information space with falsehoods so quickly and overwhelmingly that it became difficult to separate fact from fiction. (ANI)