Claim: A letter from Pakistan’s Climate Change Ministry confirms a “radiation leak” at one of the country’s nuclear facilities after a brief military conflict with India. This letter was apparently signed by a top official of the so-called NRSD.
Fact: The letter is doctored and no such document has been issued by any Pakistani governmental body.
On 13 May 2025, X (formerly Twitter) user @sungrg7 alleged (archive) that the Pakistan government has officially confirmed a “radiation leak” at a facility in the country’s northern region. The post was captioned as follows:
“‘Radiation breach confirmed in Pakistan. Civilians afflicted with severe nausea, cephalalgia, and emesis. Government official acknowledged the incident — yet the military remains conspicuously silent.’ #NuclearLeak #radiation #DroneAttack”
The post is accompanied by four visuals, one of which is a letter, allegedly from Pakistan’s Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination. The document — marked “Confidential” and set for “immediate release” — was apparently signed by Engineer Malik Asad Rafique, reportedly the director-general of the so-called National Radiological Safety Division (NRSD).
Two of the three other visuals included the screenshots of X posts; in the first, a user claims they were told to “evacuate our area for a few days” because “some radioactive gas has leaked out”. In the second X post, a user who says they are from Sargodha asserts that “radiation here is immense now” and that the X post they responded to — alleging that India targeted “Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal in Sargodha” — was “factually correct”.
A fourth visual is a GIF of a nuclear blast.
Ceasefire between Pakistan, India
On the evening of 10 May, a ceasefire was announced by US President Donald Trump, who wrote on his Truth Social platform:
“After a long night of talks mediated by the United States, I am pleased to announce that India and Pakistan have agreed to a FULL AND IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE. Congratulations to both Countries on using Common Sense and Great Intelligence. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Trump’s announcement came after US State Secretary Marco Rubio spoke separately to Pakistan Army Chief Gen Syed Asim Munir, Pakistani Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar, and Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
The ceasefire between the two nuclear-armed neighbours was confirmed by Dar, who wrote: “Pakistan and India have agreed to a ceasefire with immediate effect. Pakistan has always strived for peace and security in the region, without compromising on its sovereignty and territorial integrity!”
India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri also confirmed the same, saying his country and Pakistan would “stop all firing and military action on land, air, and sea” with effect from 5 pm IST, or 4:30 pm PKT.
In an X post, Jaishankar wrote, “India and Pakistan have today worked out an understanding on stoppage of firing and military action. India has consistently maintained a firm and uncompromising stance against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. It will continue to do so.”
Shortly afterwards, CNN reported quoting an Indian source that the ceasefire was “worked out ‘directly between’ India and Pakistan, despite US President Donald Trump’s announcement that the ceasefire was the result of a night of US mediation”. The same was said by Misri and New Delhi’s Ministry of Information.
On the other hand, Pakistan has expressed gratitude to the US, with PM Sharif thanking Trump “for his leadership and proactive role”, as well as Vice President JD Vance and Rubio “for their valuable contributions for peace in South Asia”.
At this time, Soch Fact Check is not investigating whether India was able to hit any of Pakistan’s nuclear facilities.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse-searched the letter and used key phrases as inputs on Google to ascertain if there were news reports from reputable media outlets about the claim; however, we did not find any.
We also checked if Pakistan’s Climate Change Ministry had made any remarks about the letter or the alleged radiation leak but did not find any relevant information.
The country’s nuclear bodies include the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA) and the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC). There’s no National Radiological Safety Division (NRSD), nor is there a director-general named Malik Asad Rafique.
The email provided — “nrsd@env.go.v.pk” — also does not work; official government email addresses end at “gov.pk”, at “go.v.pk”. Since “NRSD” does not exist either, this is an error.
Soch Fact Check then analysed the document itself and found several errors that should not be there in a carefully-produced official document by the Pakistani government. These appear to be consistent with mistakes made in content generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
Mainly, Pakistan’s crescent and star are wrongly drawn in the logo. For example, the letter has an eight-pointed star as compared to the original, which is five-pointed; the crescent is wobbly as well. The border is missing flowers and there is a generally-distorted imagery of plants. Lastly, it includes the words “Faith, Unity, Discipline” at the bottom, but they are missing in the viral document.
Other errors/typos are listed below:
- Confindental
- Norther
- industrialirological
- approximatelly
- 24-55 hours
- toutine
- Pollowing
- leam
- Indium 192
- shickling mechantem duiring
- teak
- -0 05 mSy (hour [In the context of nuclear radiation, mSv stands for millisievert / “mSv/h” stands for millisieverts per hour]
- as os of 13) May
- I’technicians
- minot
- Islamabad General Hospital [a fictitious facility]
- scignificant
- Immediale
- potocol
- bilkeral togical
- safet),standards
- streenings
- lirector
Separately, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on 15 May denied claims of any nuclear leaks in Pakistan that were originally reported by multiple Indian news outlets, which said the country housed such installations in Kirana Hills.
In a statement to The Indian Express, the IAEA said, “We are aware of the reports you are referring to. Based on information available to the IAEA, there has been no radiation leak or release from any nuclear facility in Pakistan.”
Prior to that, the director-general Indian Air Force’s (IAF) Air Operations, Air Marshal Awadesh Kumar Bharti, had denied targeting the alleged Kirana Hills nuclear site.
“Thank you for telling us that Kirana Hills houses some nuclear installations. We did not know about it. We have not hit Kirana Hills. I did not brief in my briefing yesterday,” he had said, according to a 12 May report.
This had followed comments by Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, who addressed fears of the country’s nuclear arsenal being used against India and clarified that no meeting of the National Command Authority (NCA) was scheduled.
On the other hand, during a 13 May press briefing at the US State Department, a journalist asked if Washington had “sent a team to Islamabad or Pakistan following the reports that there have been leaks of nuclear radiation in some of the secure Pakistani sites?”
In response, US State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Thomas “Tommy” Pigott said, “I have nothing to preview on that at this time.”
Soch Fact Check, therefore, concludes that the viral document is forged, however, as previously stated, this article is not investigating whether India was able to hit any of Pakistan’s nuclear facilities.
Virality
The post by @sungrg7 has been viewed over 453,800 times so far.
Soch Fact Check found that the letter was posted here and here on Facebook, here, here, here, and here on Instagram, and here on X.
It was shared on Reddit as well.
Conclusion: The letter is doctored and no such document has been issued by any governmental body of Pakistan.
Background image in cover photo: Johannes Daleng
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com