Pakistan's Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Ishaq Dar, has come under heavy criticism for quoting a doctored newspaper photograph in a speech to parliament.
The doctored picture, which pretended to be from the UK's The Daily Telegraph, hailed the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) as the "undisputed king of the skies." Dar quoted the doctored photograph on Thursday when he praised the PAF's success.
Dar declared in his speech, "The Telegraph newspaper states, 'Pakistan Airforce is the undisputed king of the skies.' Alhamdulillah," which was received with warm applause by fellow lawmakers.
But most of them soon identified that the picture Dar had quoted was fake and not related to The Daily Telegraph. The AI-generated picture had spread far and wide on social media, with several Pakistani journalists posting it with great glee, under the illusion that it was genuine international acclaim for the PAF's defense and counterattack skills.
Further inquiries found that the picture was entirely faked.
This event is a part of a larger pattern after the recent India-Pakistan tensions escalated, when social media sites were filled with all sorts of images, news stories, and claims—some of which turned out to be untruthful later.
Even after being openly challenged for his mistake, Ishaq Dar has not issued any formal clarification about the event yet.
It is equally relevant to point out that throughout the recent war, Islamabad has relied heavily upon social media reports as purported proof to substantiate various claims. These include claims that Pakistan had shot down a minimum of five Indian fighter planes—a figure which has since been upped to six.
Pakistan's Defence Minister, Khawaja Asif, was also condemned after making his claim of destroying five Indian planes based on unverified social media reports. When challenged by a CNN anchor regarding tangible evidence, Asif answered, "the proof is all over social media."
Adding to these allegations, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, while delivering a speech at the PAF Kamra airbase on Thursday, said six Indian aircraft were destroyed, mentioning specifically 3 Rafales, 1 SU-30MKI, 1 Mirage 2000, and 1 MiG-29.
These allegations, however, remain unsubstantiated, as no tangible evidence has yet been made public.
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