A key feature of the Pahalgam Incident and the ensuing military escalation between India and Pakistan pertains to how it revealed New Delhi’s coordinated disinformation campaign. This disinformation campaign was however, further amplified by online troll networks. While Indian state as well as mainstream media sought to shape public perception, suppress inconvenient truths, and bombarding the Indian public with fake news, on the other hand, the digital realm—particularly the social media platform X (formerly Twitter)—became a battlefield of its own.

From recycled war footages to forged images and fake government statements, the scale and sophistication of the disinformation campaign signalled a deliberate strategy to manufacture hyper-nationalist sentiment and transpose dissenting voices to the fringes. In this context, this op-ed, in continuation of Part I explores examines the digital dimension of India’s information warfare.

In the immediate aftermath of the Pahalgam incident, India’s disinformation apparatus went into overdrive. Hard-line nationalist accounts on X became the central hubs of circulating false and sensational claims to inflate a hyper-masculine narratives demanding retribution. Posts on Indian social media accounts encouraged users to circulate fabricated or misleading information that portrayed India in a positive light, whilst to deliberately suppress any narrative or information that could undermine India’s image. This was deemed as a tactic of India’s warfare within its broader strategy.

Most of these accounts recycled unrelated videos—such as Israeli airstrikes in Gaza or Iranian missile attacks on Israel—captioned misleadingly as “Indian strikes on Pakistani terror bases.” Even a video from the Pakistani Mirage jet crash in Vehari (from April 2025) was shared under the false claim that Indian forces had downed a Pakistani aircraft. Furthermore, these posts were riddled with dramatic captions such as “Operation Sindoor complete” and “Revenge for Pahalgam,” alongside hashtags such as #IndiaPakistanWar, #JaiHind, and #IndianArmy to maximize traction.

In another instance, a fabricated news bulletin image showing “India shot down PAF jets” was widely circulated by overlaying outdated footage.  In another instance, visuals from a video game were portrayed as Indian air defence system attacking Pakistani fighter jets. Quite evidently, this proliferation of falsehoods was not random—it was rather systematic and strategic.

Furthermore, these Hindutva-aligned accounts also went after journalists and activists who questioned the veracity of their insanely fabricated claims. This targeted harassment, also suggested toward a coordinated effort to silence dissent and create an echo chamber of blind nationalism. While India’s Press Information Bureau (PIB) ultimately launched a 24/7 fact-checking operation and issued approximately around 18 clarifications, however, this initiative appeared to be merely symbolic.

More importantly, rather than offering an impartial and unbiased fact-checking, the clarifications only tended to misinformation that threatened the Indian narrative. Furthermore, the initiative was a little too less and a little too late as a very small proportion of misinformation was debunked, while most of it permeated the public discourse seamlessly, achieving its intended effect.

The Pahalgam episode underscores how modern conflicts are fought not only on the ground but also in the information domain. India’s extensive use of digital disinformation is reflective of the growing trend of manipulating truth to engineer public sentiment. However, it is also pertinent to note that in most cases, effective information warfare walks a fine line—blending small fragments of subtle lies with larger proportions of truth, in order for the disinformation to appear plausible enough to come off as reality.

But in the recent crisis, New Delhi went as far as to abandon even the pretence of truth. Hence, what followed was a full-blown onslaught of manufactured content—videos, images, statements—that had no factual basis whatsoever.

For New Delhi, this approach did come at a cost. While the credibility of Indian media has not just suffered a major setback, for observers outside India, the Indian media as well as Indian narratives of social media became a laughing stock. Furthermore, the theatrics and melodramatic optics also weakened India’s concocted narrative around terrorism on the global stage.

However, on the domestic front, the sheer volume of fake news flooded every corner of the digital space, leaving ordinary Indians unable to tell what was real and what wasn’t. In doing so, the state succeeded in blurring reality to the point where truth became irrelevant—a casualty of convenience in the name of nationalism.

While disinformation often targets public emotions, particularly in hyper-nationalistic societies, however it is pertinent to note that such campaigns remain a seriously dangerous gambit due to their potential to fan nationalist sentiments and demand retaliatory action, thereby rendering the strategic environment even more volatile.

In conclusion, there is a dictum that goes ‘Truth becomes the first casualty of war’. But if a government is hell-bent to imbibe its people with lies, then the onus is on the people to demonstrate that their rationality and ability to reason is alive.