Claim: In response to a question from CNN’s Becky Anderson, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said he saw the proof of three Indian fighter jets shot down by Pakistan on social media.
Fact: The claim is misleading. Asif did not say that social media was his source of evidence for claiming that Pakistan had shot down three Indian fighter jets. Instead, he stated that the evidence was circulating widely and was publicly available on Indian social media.
X user @MrSinha_ shared a video (archive) of the Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif speaking with CNN’s anchor Becky Anderson, and wrote:
“-Question: Where is the proof that Pakistan shot down three Indian fighter jets?
-Pakistani Defence Minister (to CNN): I saw it on social media..🤡
Parody minister of a parody country!”
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reviewed the video clip in the claim, and found that the X user had misrepresented the Defence Minister’s actual statement. The clip in the X post itself begins with Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif saying:
“Absolutely wrong. There is absolutely no evidence that India would just want to justify whatever they have done last night. They will talk… You know, a befitting lesson, they lost five planes, three of them Rafale and maybe Jaguars. So they came in to target the supposedly–, supposedly terrorist camps for training grounds or training camps.”
In response, CNN’s anchor Becky Anderson asked:
“But you’re telling me that you’re—You don’t know whether these sites were terrorist training sites?”
Asif replied, “No, there are absolutely no terrorist activities. It’s just the imagination. The figment of imagination of India. They just want to justify whatever they are doing. They’re trying to find a justification for that.”
Anderson then posed the following question about the claim that Indian jets were shot down:
“You’ve just brought up the fact that India lost some fighter jets, so let’s be quite clear about this. Pakistan claims it shot down five Indian Air Force jets and a drone, as I understand it. India says there’s no evidence of that, no proof. So can you provide—can you provide more detail? And is this the response that your army spokesman threatened, or is there further action to come? Let’s start with this very specific allegation of five fighter jets shot down. Where’s the evidence for that, sir?”
Asif responded and said:
“It’s all over the (sic) social media. Indian social media, not on our social media. The debris of these jets fell into…”
At this point, his audio becomes partially unintelligible, and Anderson interjects saying:
“The reason to talk to you today is not to talk about the media all over social media, I’m sorry. It’s not to talk about content all over social media. I’m asking you very specifically.”
At no point during the interview does Khawaja Asif claim that social media was the Defence Ministry’s or his main source of evidence for claiming that Pakistan had shot down Indian fighter jets on 7 May. Instead, he stated that evidence of the alleged downed jets is “all over the Indian social media”, to say that the proof of the Pakistani state’s claims is publicly available for everyone to see.
Soch Fact Check also reviewed the full conversation available on CNN’s official YouTube channel, where the discussion followed the same trajectory as the clip in the viral claim.
Indian airstrikes in Pakistan
In the early hours of 7 May, the Indian military launched Operation Sindoor and targeted various locations inside Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, killing at least 31 people and wounding 57 others, according to Pakistani authorities. At least three children were killed by the strikes.
The attacks marked the most expansive military action between the two nations since 1971.
Pakistan military’s media-wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) has said civilian areas in at least six locations — including Ahmedpur East, Muridke, Sialkot, Shakargarh, Kotli, and Muzaffarabad — were targeted.
India, however, alleged it targeted nine “terrorist camps”, a claim which has not yet been independently verified. Pakistan, on the other hand, has asserted that these sites are densely populated civilian areas. Emerging footage and on-ground reporting shows that civilians, including women and children, were injured in the attack, which lends credibility to Pakistan’s assertions that civilian areas were harmed, contrary to claims made by Indian officials. Soch Fact Check also independently confirmed deaths of several civilians in Bahawalpur, including two children.
Notably, military strikes in Pakistani Punjab are across a recognised international border and constitute a major escalation relative to the surgical strikes carried out along the Line of Control (LoC), the ceasefire line that divides Pakistan-administered Kashmir from Indian-administered Kashmir.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the airstrikes, saying his country “has every right to give a robust response to this act of war imposed by India”.
The Pahalgam Attack
India claims its strikes were a response to the terror attack in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir on 22 April, which killed 26 people, mostly tourists.
Indian officials linked the attack to Pakistan, but Islamabad has denied the claim. The Resistance Front – a group that Indian officials maintain is a proxy front for the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) – initially claimed responsibility for that attack but later retracted its statement.
Pakistan demanded a neutral investigation, asserting that India has not provided any evidence to support its allegations of Pakistan’s involvement in the attack.
The Indus Waters Treaty
Soon after the attack on tourists in Pahalgam, New Delhi announced the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, which has been in place since 1960 and has survived two wars between the neighbouring nuclear countries. Pakistan stated that attempts to stop or divert Pakistan’s water would be considered an “act of war and responded with full force across the complete spectrum of national power”.
On Tuesday, after a UNSC meeting to discuss the matter, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Now, India’s water will flow for India’s benefit, it will be conserved for India’s benefit, and it will be used for India’s progress”.
Pakistan and International response to Indian attack
Hours after Indian strikes hit multiple Pakistani locations, the Pakistani military announced that they had brought down five Indian jets. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif informed Bloomberg TV that the country shot down five Indian jets and multiple unmanned aerial vehicles, along with destroying checkposts at the Line of Control (LoC). Indian officials apparently acknowledged that three of their “fighter jets” had “crashed” within their territory, Reuters (archive) and New York Times (archive) reported on 7 May 2025.
According to a press release issued by the Press Information Department (PID), after Pakistan’s National Security Committee (NSC) convened on the morning of 7 May, India also targeted the Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project.
“The international media personnel had already visited these ‘imaginary terrorist camps’ on 6 May 2025 and more visits were planned for 7 May 2025,” the press release said.
After the Pahalgam incident, “Pakistan made a sincere offer for a credible, transparent and neutral investigation, which unfortunately was not accepted” by India, it added.
The NSC also authorised the armed forces “to undertake corresponding actions” following the 7 May strikes by India.
The UN Secretary General António Guterres urged both India and Pakistan to exercise military restraint, adding that “the world cannot afford a military confrontation between India and Pakistan.”
The same day, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting with senior federal ministers but has so far not made any public comments since the airstrikes, according to CNN.
Following India’s attack on Pakistan, multiple countries issued statements, with Russia saying it was “deeply concerned” about the escalation, China noting that it “regrets” New Delhi’s military action and urging “restraint”, the US stating that it hoped the conflict “ends very quickly”, and the UK promising that it will “stand ready” to assist in deescalating tensions between the two countries.
A surge of unverified claims and disinformation has circulated on social media since the Pahalgam terror attack, and it has spiked sharply after India launched missile strikes into Pakistani territory early Wednesday morning.
Virality
The claim was shared here, here, here, here, here, and here on Facebook. Archived here, here, here, here, here, and here.
On X, it was shared here, here, here, here, here, and here. Archived here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Conclusion: The caption accompanying the viral clip misrepresents Khawaja Asif’s comments. He did not say that he saw the evidence on social media. Instead he responded to Anderson’s question about evidence of Pakistan shooting down three Indian fighter jets by saying that the evidence was circulating widely on Indian social media.
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Background image in cover photo: BBC Urdu
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