New Delhi, April 7 (IANS) Pakistan has been indulging in a fake narrative campaign against India. While Pakistan is known to sponsor terror groups to strike India, in recent months, it has been fighting another battle, which involves spreading false information against its neighbouring country

The cause for this sudden rise in the number of fake stories being planted in India is Field Marshal Asim Munir’s failure and his desperation to build his own legacy. The big blow for Asim Munir was Operation Sindoor, during which the terror infrastructure was blown up by the Indian Armed Forces.

An Intelligence Bureau official said that the biggest setback Munir faced was from Pakistan’s own proxies. The Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) in particular questioned the capability of the Pakistan Army and ISI in protecting the group when the Indian forces took down their headquarters at Bahawalpur.

The JeM chief, Masood Azhar, is reportedly upset with the establishment, and since Operation Sindoor, he has hardly been seen. Another official said that with questions being raised about the capabilities of the Pakistan Army, it became imperative for Asim Munir to indulge in a fake narrative campaign against India.

While it worked to a certain extent, the mask blew up when Pakistan faced back-to-back diplomatic failures while dealing with foreign nations. Pakistan watchers say that the foreign policy that Pakistan would have hoped to build a reputation on has been crumbling.

The battle in Afghanistan was a big blow to Asim Munir. He would have hoped to have manoeuvred the Afghan Taliban easily, but that ploy failed. Since the comeback of the Taliban, Pakistan had hoped to control Afghanistan, but that fell flat. Afghanistan has been clear that it would not want any influence when it came to its own foreign policy.

A big drawback was when the Afghan Taliban mended ties with India. This led to the Pakistan Army falsely claiming that the Afghan Taliban had given space for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to launch attacks.

The Afghan Taliban has firmly denied it, but Pakistan decided to launch a war against Afghanistan. Disnfo Lab, a group of researchers who investigate Info-Warfare and Psy-war, took to X and said that after Operation Sindoor, Asim Munir has been trying to build his legacy as a successful leader.

Pakistan has been receiving a cold shoulder from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Afghanistan. Munir has been desperately trying to create a narrative as it has become a matter of his survival. The global press is not buying the narrative, and hence it has been building its own global press network so that it can sell narratives of its choice.

Disnfo Lab points to the creation of the Himalayan Institute of Research and Policy Studies (HIRPS) at the Minhaj Institute in Lahore. The institute claims that it is an institute that studies geopolitics, security and climate across the Himalayan belt from Pakistan to China to India to Central Asia. The institute that was set up in November 2025 is headed by Prof. Dr Hussain Mohi-ud-Din Qadri. He is a known critic of India, and under him are a bunch of academics, retired army officers and other individuals who also indulge in an anti-India campaign.

An official said that the intention of the HIRPS is to hold discussions and conduct studies. While on the face of it, the institute claims that it is studying geopolitics, in reality, its intention is to hold global conferences and then run a fake narrative against India.

It would try to portray India as an aggressor in the region so that the global press could pick up the information, the official added.

Further, Pakistan also drew up the Strategic Communication Master Plan 2025 (STRATCOM 2025), which is aimed at building English-language media platforms to project Pakistan’s fake narratives globally. As part of Munir’s strategy to get global recognition, he also ensured the setting up of media platforms such as AsiaOne News (Karachi, July 2025), Pakistan TV Digital (August 2025), DM News English (Manchester, UK, August 2025), FP92TV (Paris, active from 2024), and Afrik1 TV.

AsiaOne is headquartered in Karachi and was launched just two months after Operation Sindoor. The channel hired presenters from Turkey, Nigeria, the UK and Australia. The hiring is done in a manner that makes the platform look international. The channel is owned by 365 Digital Media Company and was founded by a former TRT World journalist, Naveed Qamar Baloch, who has close ties with the ISI.

TRT, which is a Turkey-state-funded media group, has been helping Pakistan to spread a fake narrative against India. It has very often pushed the fake claims made by the DG ISPR against India. For instance, during Operation Sindoor, the media outfit peddled fake news such as Indian jets being taken down by the Pakistan armed forces.

Another media outfit that the Pakistan establishment started was the DM News English, which was founded by a Manchester-based British Pakistani, Dr Liaqat Malik. The media outfit presents itself as British and has studios in Manchester, Birmingham, London and Lahore. The founder is a known peddler of fake news and has very often promoted criminal activities on air.

To ensure that Pakistan’s fake narrative reaches beyond the English-speaking audience, it also launched FP92TV, which is a French-Urdu digital channel.

These are clear signs that Pakistan has been losing the global narrative. The global media is not buying Pakistan’s stories.

Pakistan had tom-tommed that it would be brokering a ceasefire between Iran and the United States. However, Iran spoke about a major trust deficit. This was Asim Munir’s best chance at shaping his legacy as a global leader, but that fell flat. Pakistan has a military pact with Saudi Arabia, but failed to stand by it in the battle against Iran.

Even the UAE, which has been targeted during the ongoing war, has major trust issues with Pakistan, as it feels that the country plays according to where the wind blows. An official explained that questions are being asked about Asim Munir both domestically and internationally. This explains why he has set up so many media houses. He is desperate for global attention and hopes that these outlets, which he has set up, will help him get attention in the global media.

Munir has also managed to suppress the local media while giving a boost to these new outlets, which are presenting themselves as global brands.

Another official explained that it was Pakistan’s misadventure in Pahalgam that cost them the narrative and loss of face. The Narendra Modi government hit back hard in the form of Operation Sindoor, and this is something that Asim Munir is unable to digest to date, the official said.

–IANS

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