“Fake photos, real threats: Pakistan’s doctored imagery and the future of conflict”, First Post, January 07, 2026
“A few days ago, Pakistan placed satellite images in the public domain, claiming these as evidence of damage inflicted by Pakistani missile, drone, and standoff air attacks on Indian military facilities—particularly in and around Amritsar—during the brief 88-hour conflict with India in May 2025. Many people I speak to remain dismayed by these claims, made fully eight months after the conflict, that significant damage was caused to Indian defence infrastructure in Punjab and other border areas. The common reaction is dismissive: everyone knows these are lies and half-truths. India’s missiles and aircraft struck their intended targets; Pakistan failed to achieve its objectives. Why would anyone believe otherwise? This reaction, widespread and emotionally satisfying, nevertheless reflects a worrying naivety about the nature of contemporary information warfare.
The problem is not whether these claims are true. The problem is how lies and ‘no-truths’ work in the information domain—and how easily they embed themselves when repeated, visualised, and amplified. In modern conflict, narrative control is not an adjunct to military action; it is a parallel battlespace. Pakistan understands this instinctively. Somehow, we may have been tardy in understanding this.
People obviously do not have the means to analyse satellite imagery. They do not examine metadata, shadow angles, resolution mismatches, or post-processing artefacts. They do not even seek corroboration because it does not occur to them that their minds could be taken for a ride. Human psychology tends to accept information that appears authoritative, visual, and repeated. Information warfare exploits precisely this vulnerability—not to convince everyone, but to plant doubt, generate peripheral questioning, and weaken confidence in official versions…..”
Read full article at firstpost.com
