Drone attack in Jalandhar? PIB fact checks viral claim

NEW DELHI: Amid soaring tensions between India and Pakistan following India's retaliatory Operation Sindoor, social media has seen a surge in misleading videos. One such video, widely shared as footage of a drone strike in Jalandhar, has been debunked by the Press Information Bureau’s (PIB) Fact Check Unit.PIB clarified that the video does not depict a drone attack but shows a farm fire.Crucially, the video is timestamped at 7:39 PM, whereas the drone strikes launched by Pakistan occurred later. This was further confirmed by the District Collector of Jalandhar, who called the viral clip disinformation. "Do not share this video," PIB warned in its post, urging the public to avoid spreading unverified content.The Jalandhar video is one of several pieces of misinformation that emerged in the wake of India’s precision strikes across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam. Between Wednesday night and early Thursday, PIB’s fact-checking team exposed seven such false claims circulating on social media, many originating from Pakistani sources.These included a fabricated video claiming a Pakistani army attack destroyed an Indian post, which referenced a non-existent “20 Raj Battalion”; another showing a 2020 Beirut explosion passed off as a Pakistani missile strike on India; and a forged letter attributed to a fictitious Chief of Army Staff, Gen VK Narayan.PIB has reiterated its call for vigilance, urging citizens to verify content before sharing and rely only on official sources during sensitive times.