India’s recent four-day aerial engagement with Pakistan stands as a textbook demonstration of modern warfare effectiveness—both in terms of offensive reach and defensive resilience. From precision strikes targeting deep inside Pakistani territory, including strategic sites like the Nur Khan airbase in Rawalpindi; to successfully intercepting a barrage of Pakistani missile and drone attacks, India achieved its military objectives with absolute control.
The decisive operation, targeting over nine terrorist outfits and neutralising more than 100 militants in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, was executed with minimal collateral damage, showcasing the strategic maturity and combat effectiveness of the Indian Armed Forces.
The Information Warfare
Yet, while India’s military actions spoke volumes on the battlefield, it finds itself surprisingly muted in the global narrative sphere. Despite India presenting satellite imagery and detailed operational briefings—bolstered by independent confirmation from Maxar Technologies, an American space technology company— the international media and Western think tanks have disproportionately focused on an unverified counter-narrative pushed by Pakistan and amplified by Chinese state-linked outlets.
Take for instance, the inexplicable praise for the Chinese-made aircrafts, J-10Cs and JF-17 allegedly used by Pakistan. Media outlets such as Global Times, known for its alignment with the Chinese Communist Party, were also extremely quick to seize on unverifiable Pakistani claims that five Indian jets were downed—claims that even Pakistan’s own Defence Minister failed to substantiate when pressed, citing social media as his sole source.
And yet, this flimsy narrative has gained traction in Western outlets, including The National Interest and Bloomberg, which began parroting the uncorroborated claims about Chinese jet aerial superiority. In the Bloomberg report written by Josh Xiao and Yian Lee, social media videos are presented without any verification. They also used an article written by Maya Carlin for The National Interest on May 9, just on the morning of the attack.
The Propaganda Machinery
There was no real evidence except old videos of other fighter jets floating on social media from the Pakistani side. Using these videos, Carlin made a false claim in her article that the Pakistani J-10 jets successfully took down four different types of aircraft, including a French-designed 4.5-generation Rafale fighter. She also mentioned that PAF targeted a Soviet-made Mig-29 and a Su-30, also flown by the Indian Air Force. The lack of evidence, jumping to a conclusion, just to be quick and controversial, does not serve any real intellectual purpose, that is if that was ever even the purpose in the first place. Five days after the date of publishing, the website has not taken down the article, despite the claims not being confirmed by either the Indian or Pakistani sides. The misinformation continues.
This isn’t merely about regional propaganda—it’s about strategic economic positioning. China has long harboured ambitions to erode Western dominance in the global arms market. By tying the narrative of Pakistani resistance and supposed success to Chinese defence hardware, Beijing is manufacturing a perception that its military equipment is not just viable but superior to traditional Western alternatives. This becomes particularly dangerous in regions that are already sceptical of Western political motives but eager for cost-effective defence procurement.
Ironically, while American companies like Maxar provide hard, verifiable evidence supporting India’s performance in its high-resolution pictures showing destroyed Pakistani Airbases, runways and buildings, Western media fail to highlight it. Instead, they unwittingly amplify Chinese propaganda, thus undermining not only India’s indigenous defence systems but also their own technological allies and, by extension, weakening the perception of Western defence ability. This not only damages their own credibility on the global stage indirectly hurting the hegemony of Western defence firms that have historically relied on narrative dominance to secure geopolitical influence.
India’s lag in Strategic Communication
India has lacked here, not in warfare but in information warfare. Moreover the Indian media has failed to amplify the credible evidence provided by the Indian government and also failed to counter the false narrative fed by Pakistani Media, social media, citizens and officials.
New Delhi has yet to master the mechanics of 21st-century strategic communication. India also lacked in communication, when a ceasefire was announced by US President Donald Trump on Truth Social, well before the Indian officials. India also failed to build the narrative that the Pakistani side has contacted them for “mutual understanding.” Here too, Trump succeeded in stealing the credit for the ceasefire.
New BattleFields need New Weapons
In a world where perception can shape policy and procurement, failing to dominate the narrative allows adversaries to redefine reality. Pakistan and China, despite being on the back foot militarily, have successfully manoeuvred themselves into the driver’s seat of global perception through coordinated misinformation and narrative engineering.
The West, too, must wake up to this shifting reality. By allowing Chinese defence technology to be glorified without verification, especially when credible evidence suggests the contrary, they risk not only losing market share but also ideological ground. After all, if Chinese weapons are seen as effective and their narrative unchallenged, why should developing nations continue to trust in the superiority of Western defence systems?
In conclusion, India may have hit its targets, protected its assets, and followed international norms—but in the age of hybrid warfare, facts alone are not enough. The narrative is now the terrain of conflict, and unless India—and its Western partners—learn to fight and win that battle, truth will continue to be hidden behind the veil of propaganda.
