It was an evening of celebration, pride and supposed military triumph—or so it was meant to be. But what unfolded instead was a curious case of misrepresentation that quickly turned into a social media farce. At a high-profile dinner hosted by Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff, Field Marshal Asim Munir, a photo purporting to show a successful Pakistani strike against India was gifted to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The image, however, was anything but original.
The photo—an old and widely circulated image of a Chinese military drill—was presented as a token of victory for Operation Bunyan-un-Marsoos, a recent Pakistani military campaign touted as a show of might. In reality, the photograph is of the Chinese PHL-03 multiple rocket launcher, originally published in 2019 and attributed to Chinese photographer Huang Hai.
Rather than evoking admiration, the gesture evoked ridicule, as social media platforms erupted with mockery, pointing out the clear discrepancy between the origin of the image and the narrative being pushed.
According to reports, the photograph was gifted during a ceremonial dinner aimed at honouring Pakistan’s political and military leadership and the “indomitable spirit” of its people. However, observers noted that the attempt to pass off foreign imagery as a home-grown military triumph has significantly backfired.
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India, meanwhile, has released extensive photo and video evidence of its own military operations against Pakistan, including what it claims to be significant damage to Pakistani airbases. In contrast, the Pakistani establishment’s alleged reliance on doctored visuals appears to have undermined its own narrative.
The controversy centres on PHL-03, a well-documented Chinese long-range rocket launcher system. The image in question has surfaced multiple times over the past five years in various defence blogs and forums and is well known to military analysts and defence journalists alike.
“This was a photo that had done the rounds long before Operation Bunyan-un-Marsoos,” remarked a strategic affairs analyst in Delhi. “That it was repackaged and presented as a fresh victory is frankly quite embarrassing.”
Despite the damage to its credibility, Islamabad has made no official clarification or denial regarding the episode.
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