New Delhi: A video circulating on social media claiming that India’s External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar admitted to the loss of three Rafale fighter jets during a recent conflict with Pakistan has been found to be digitally altered using artificial intelligence tools.
The video, shared widely on social media platforms including X, shows Dr. Jaishankar allegedly stating that India lost three Rafales after Pakistan retaliated during the military standoff that followed India’s strike on terrorist infrastructure in response to the Pahalgam terror attack.
An X user who shared the video captioned it, “India's EAM Jaishankar has finally admitted the loss of multiple fighter jets to Pakistan, including three Rafales. It was very unfair of Pakistan to target Indian jets, said Dr Jaishankar.”
However, a fact-check investigation has found that the video is fake and that the statement being attributed to Jaishankar was never made.
Fact Check and Verification
A reverse image search of keyframes from the viral video led investigators to the original footage uploaded by Newsweek on its official YouTube channel on July 1. The 49-minute-long video documents a conversation between External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar and Newsweek CEO Dev Pragad.
The portion of the viral video in question appears at the 43:05 mark in the original recording. In that section, Jaishankar is heard saying:
“Something that you know, Pakistanis did attack us massively that night. We responded very quickly thereafter. And the next morning, Mr. Rubio called me up and said the Pakistanis were ready to talk.”
There is no mention whatsoever of India losing three Rafale jets to Pakistan in the original clip.
The fabricated video appears to have had an AI-generated audio layer inserted over the original, falsely quoting Jaishankar as saying:
“We had already lost three Rafales to Pakistan two days ago.”
This line does not exist in the original video and was added using deepfake techniques.
MEA Fact Check Flags Video as Fake
The Ministry of External Affairs’ official fact-checking handle, MEA Fact Check, has also issued a clarification on X, labelling the viral video as doctored and fake.
“A digitally manipulated video of EAM Dr. S Jaishankar is being shared with false claims. No such statement was made. Kindly avoid sharing misleading content,” the post read.
Spread Largely Traced to Pakistan-Based Accounts
The fake video is being circulated largely by accounts based in Pakistan, as per social media analysis. The objective appears to be to push false narratives around the recent India-Pakistan confrontation.
This incident once again highlights the dangers of AI-generated misinformation in sensitive geopolitical contexts, and the importance of verifying information from reliable sources before believing or sharing it.
Background
India and Pakistan entered a ceasefire agreement over 50 days ago following heightened tensions after a terror attack in Pahalgam. India had carried out strikes on terror camps in Pakistan, which was followed by retaliatory moves from Islamabad. Since then, both countries have returned to diplomatic channels to de-escalate the situation.
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Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): Young Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh held her nerves to hold stalwart Koneru Humpy to a draw in game 1 of the FIDE Women's World Cup final, with both players having their share of opportunities to take the lead here on Saturday.
The draw with black means Humpy, the two-time World Rapid champion, holds a slight edge going in the second and final game under the classical chess rules in the two-game mini-match, and should the deadlock continue, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.
Humpy employed the Queen's gambit accepted as black and it turned out to be a pretty fascinating game right out of the opening as Divya, 19, came up with a piece sacrifice early to deny the black king the right to castle.
Humpy was the first to err and, according to computers, Divya had things under control on the 14th move. However in her bid to recover the extra material, the Nagpur girl, who has secured a place in the Candidates tournament with her sterling performance here, missed a promising continuation.
What followed the exchange of all minor pieces and the ensuing queen and rook endgame gave enough counter play to both players. The game was eventually drawn after Humpy sacrificed her rook to force perpetual checks.
"The game saw an extremely sharp battle with the game ending in a draw in 41 moves. On move 7, Divya made her aggressive intentions clear by offering another pawn,
which looked like home preparation. Humpy made a practical decision of refraining from taking the pawn and a balanced position was reached by move 10 by white," said Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, an Arjuna awardee and the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster norm.
"However, instead of developing the undeveloped Knight, Humpy retreated the centralised Knight on move 10, giving huge positional advantage to Divya. Divya could have gained huge positional advantage on the 12th move by moving a rook. However, she chose to play for King side attack by sacrificing a piece instead.
"Humpy, too, erred at this stage and instead of moving the King to Queen side, moved it to the King side. Divya, on move 14, could have obtained a crushing attack by threatening a mate by developing her Queen. Instead she chose to exchange a pair of Bishops first, which enabled Humpy to defend her King by returning the piece," said Thipsay.
"Players thus reached a balanced Queen and two Rooks ending. Divya continued to play ambitiously and tried to attack Humpy’s King but the latter defended accurately and the game was drawn in 41 moves by perpetual check," he added.
In the play-off for the third place, Chinese players Zhongyi Tan, the former women's world champion and top seed Lei Tingjie also decided to split points out of a Queen’s gambit declined game.
The opening raised visions of a close contest between the two but having been knocked out of title race in the previous round, none of them wanted to take any huge risk. It was still a middle game when the players shook hands.
With the top two positions sealed for the Indians, the berth to the next Candidates is also assigned, while the player finishing third will also get an entry to the premier event scheduled for 2026.
Results: Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind); Zhongyi Tan (Chn) drew with Tingjie Lei (Chn).