Pakistan Army spokesperson shows old, fake video claiming victory post Balakot, later back tracks

New Delhi: The spokesperson of Pakistani Army Asif Ghafoor on Sunday was found opening peddling in fake news via his Twitter account. Asif Ghafoor, who is the Director-General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), tweeted a video at 9:37 am on Sunday, which he claimed was Indian Airforce veteran Air Marshal Denzil Keelor's "admission of Indian failure and losses" on February 27, 2019.

The video was, in fact, a four-year-old video of Air Marshal speaking on 1965 war. It is widely available on YouTube under the title, "Nehru lost India the war: Air Marshal Denzil Keelor speaks about India's battle losses".

Admission of Indian failure and losses on 27 February 2019 by a well decorated Indian Airforce veteran Air Marshal Denzil Keelor.#Surprise pic.twitter.com/uTeErbucCl — Asif Ghafoor (@peaceforchange) July 28, 2019

Once it was known that video is old, Ghafoor tweeted after five hours at 2:11 pm accepting that it was "doctored". But without tendering an apology he said, "Admission and expression were too identical to differentiate. Unintentional omission is acknowledged, especially to Indians."

The clip of Air Marshal is revealed to be doctored through inset. Admission and expression were too identical to differentiate. Unintentional omission is acknowledged, especially to Indians.
Nonetheless, environment remained unchanged for IAF on both the occasions.

— Asif Ghafoor (@peaceforchange) July 28, 2019

On February 27, Pakistani forces attacked Indian military installations in response to the Indian counter-terror strikes on Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror camps in Balakot, Pakistan, which was carried on February 26. India had conducted counter-terror strikes in response to Pulwama terror attack that killed more than 40 Indian paramilitary forces on February 14 and whose responsibility was taken by Pakistan-based terror group and United Nations' listed terror group JeM. 

This is not for the first time that Ghafoor has been involved in misinformation. On February 27, he claimed that Pakistan has taken custody of two Indian pilots but later confirmed that only one Indian pilot --Abhinandan Varthaman was with them.

Not just Pakistani Army spokesperson, Pakistani envoy to United Nations Maleeha Lodhi in 2017 showed a fake picture in United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) claiming that the picture showed "Indian brutality in Kashmir" but it was later found that the picture was of a Palestinian girl.