India-Pakistan Conflict 2025: How Pakistan Won Information War Amid Media Manipulation, Global Optics & Strategic Messaging

A nation which thrives and promotes fake narratives suffers the consequences of its own delusions.

Did Pakistan win the perception war in its recent conflict with India, which not only grabbed world attention but was unprecedented because of the overt military support from China?

This was one of the questions raised early this month during the inauguration of the Centre for National Security Studies (CNSS) at the Pune International Centre (PIC), attended by several serving and retired military officers, strategic studies scholars and thinkers.

Weaponisation of information is extremely critical for a nation engaged in a war situation. Information warfare is the effective management, manipulation and dissemination of convenient truths, half-truths and falsehoods through the organs of mass media to influence national and international opinion, generate support, whip up passions, boost national morale and influence journalists.

On multiple counts, Pakistan succeeded in its information warfare. Against India’s charge that Pakistan has been a habitual promoter of terrorism and was responsible for the Pahalgam attack in which 26 innocent persons were killed in cold blood, Pakistan pleaded that it has itself been a victim of terrorism and that the terrorist organisations were not in its control. It demanded evidence to show Pakistani involvement.

It once again raised the nuclear bomb bogey, telling the world that India and Pakistan were nuclear states and anything could happen if the war went out of control. It succeeded in securing President Donald Trump’s intervention to not only get India to agree to an immediate ceasefire but also to offer to mediate between the two nations.

In spite of Indian protests that Pakistan should be punished by the international community for its latest act of terrorism, Pakistan secured the $1 billion IMF loan. In return for the ceasefire, Trump promised to boost trade with Pakistan and India and hyphenated the two nations, much to New Delhi’s disappointment.

Pakistan also succeeded in convincing influential international journalists that its air force had succeeded in downing India’s Rafale jets with the help of sophisticated Chinese J-10 planes and missiles. CNN ran its report with confirmation from Dassault Aircraft, the manufacturers of the aircraft, even as there were unconvincing denials from India.

The quick ceasefire and other successes that Pakistan secured were in sharp contrast to the deep disappointment in India over the premature ceasefire, the Rafale downing controversy, US intervention, the IMF loan and the India-Pakistan hyphenation by President Trump. This was in spite of India having inflicted heavier damage on the Pakistani air force and airfields and other sites.

Such was the euphoria in Pakistan that their military leader, Gen. Asim Munir, became a national hero and was elevated to the highest rank of field marshal.

To a question on the success of Pakistan’s ISPR (Inter-Services Public Relations) at PIC, Lt Gen Vinod Khandare (Principal Adviser, Ministry of Defence), who delivered the keynote address at the CNSS, replied that, by and large, the Pakistani media was under the control of the army, especially during the war situation. India, in contrast, had a large and diverse media which did not face similar constraints.

A war situation undoubtedly gives the government a blanket permission to impose censorship, plant stories, suspend and block websites and engage in a host of other information warfare activities that are not normally acceptable during peacetime.

While the Indian government blocked some Indian websites, especially those reporting on the downing of the Rafale, a number of TV stations and social media outlets had a wild run with exaggerated reports on widespread destruction caused by India in Pakistan, including the bombing of the Karachi Port.

The role of the media is to report the truth as speedily and accurately as possible. Its duty is to fiercely guard its credibility for the sake of upholding the public’s trust in its reporting. This is where the media’s role gets complicated in a war situation amid information warfare, government curbs and clampdowns.

Living as we are in this information age, information warfare is an ongoing phenomenon, irrespective of war or peace. There is a constant bombardment of fake news, manipulated videos, and messaging from mass media influencers, including the media, social media, government agencies, the advertising world and other vested interests. This has now got amplified with the advent of AI.

Political parties have their IT cells and troll armies where they manufacture posts and tweets to attack opponents, alter history and promote their own narratives. Such campaigns are run internationally too. Pakistan, for example, has been accused by India of attempting to instigate communal disturbances through false narratives, provocative social media videos and posts.

A massive information war alleging Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) in Iraq was orchestrated by the Bush administration in the US to justify the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. The WMD narrative was later found to be false.

Information warfare and manufactured narratives can get counter-productive and boomerang. As, for example, BJP’s “India Shining” campaign for the 2004 general elections, which failed to connect with voters.

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A nation which thrives and promotes fake narratives faces the risk of suffering the consequences of its own delusions.

What can counter information warfare? The presence of a strong, diverse and independent media, which takes pride in its accuracy and credibility, and a multiplicity of opinions and opposing viewpoints functions as a strong counter to the proliferation of manufactured narratives.

The author is a journalist, public policy scholar and former Director, Pune International Centre. He microblogs at @abhay_vaidya