Edited clip of India minister spreads months after Pakistan conflict
- Published on July 11, 2025 at 08:48
- 3 min read
- By Masroor GILANI, AFP Pakistan
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"Big news! Jaishankar admits that Pakistan launched a massive attack on India and also downed 3 Rafales," reads a July 3, 2025 X post, sharing a clip of India's external minister S. Jaishankar.
"You know the Pakistanis did attack us massively that night. We had already lost three Rafales to Pakistan two days ago so it was very unfair of them to attack but they did it anyway," he appears to say in the 11-second clip.
A surprise ceasefire on May 10 brought a halt to four days of deadly jet fighter, missile, drone and artillery attacks between the South Asian arch-foes (archived link).
Pakistan has said it had downed five Indian warplanes -- including three French Rafale fighter jets -- although New Delhi has not confirmed any losses.
The fighting was touched off by an attack on April 22 in the Indian-administered side of Kashmir that killed 26 tourists, mostly Hindu men, which New Delhi blamed on Islamabad. Pakistan denies any involvement and has called for an independent probe.
Similar posts also surfaced on Threads, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.
But a reverse image search of keyframes found the original video of Jaishankar posted on YouTube by the American magazine Newsweek on July 1, 2025 (archived link).
During the nearly 50-minute interview with Newsweek CEO Dev Pragad, Jaishankar spoke about a range of topics including the recent conflict with Pakistan, India's global future and the country's relations with the United States.
Nowhere in the discussion does he make the supposed remarks about downed Indian jets.
The manipulated video corresponds to the 42:11 to 43:22 mark of the original footage where Jaishankar was responding to a question the role the United States played in resolving the conflict.
"I mean it's been a national consensus that our dealings with Pakistan are bilateral," he says in part.
US President Donald Trump had said New Delhi and Islamabad had agreed to the ceasefire after "a long night of talks mediated by the United States".
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Trump that the ceasefire was worked out directly between the arch-rivals, a top Indian diplomat said (archived link).
India's Ministry of External Affairs also dismissed the posts in a statement on X on July 4 (archived link).
"A video is being circulated of EAM Dr. S. Jaishankar claiming that Pakistan launched a massive attack on India. FACT: This is a FAKE video. It is an AI generated video," the post reads.
AFP has debunked more misinformation around the India-Pakistan conflict here.
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