Web Desk: ISPR has criticised an Indian documentary about Operation Sindoor, describing its portrayal of the 2025 India-Pakistan conflict as a dramatised and factually distorted version of events.
In a statement, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the production appeared designed to present a version of the conflict that would be acceptable to an Indian domestic audience. It described the documentary as “a tragedy and a comedy at the same time” and accused its producers of using selectively edited interviews, emotional narration and cinematic reconstructions to influence perceptions of the military outcome.
The ISPR also challenged the documentary’s chronology surrounding the April 2025 Pahalgam attack and the subsequent Indian military operation.
According to the statement, the documentary sought to link remarks made by Pakistan’s army chief on April 16, 2025, with the Pahalgam incident on April 22.
The Pakistani military rejected that connection as an attempt to construct a conspiracy without evidence.
It also pointed to India’s later announcement that three people it identified as perpetrators of the Pahalgam attack had been killed on July 28, 2025, more than two months after Operation Sindoor began.
The ISPR said the timeline raised questions about India’s stated justification for the operation and asked how the May 7 military action could have been presented as punishment for the Pahalgam perpetrators if India identified and eliminated them later.
The statement also rejected what it described as a claim of “100 percent mission success” by India.
The ISPR said Pakistan’s armed forces had resisted Indian military action during what it called Marka-e-Haq and claimed that eight Indian military aircraft were shot down.
Pakistan subsequently launched Operation Bunyanum Marsoos, using a combination of precision-guided rockets and missiles, air-launched precision weapons, loitering munitions and artillery, the statement said.
According to the ISPR, Pakistani forces targeted 26 military sites, including facilities it said had been used against Pakistani civilians and locations allegedly linked to militant activity against Pakistan.
The claims regarding aircraft losses and battlefield results remain disputed by the two countries.
The ISPR further argued that statements attributed to Indian military officials in the documentary contradicted its depiction of an overwhelming Indian victory.
The Pakistani military said Indian officials acknowledged Pakistani missile and drone activity, prolonged exchanges along the Line of Control and the deployment of Indian air-defence systems during the confrontation.
Those acknowledgements, the statement said, were difficult to reconcile with a narrative portraying Pakistan as having been decisively defeated.
The Pakistani military also challenged the documentary’s account of how the fighting ended.
According to the ISPR, the production itself acknowledged that the two countries’ directors general of military operations communicated and agreed to halt military action.
The statement said the role of US diplomacy in facilitating the cessation of hostilities also undermined any attempt to portray the outcome solely as a unilateral Indian military victory.
India and Pakistan agreed to halt military action on May 10, 2025, after several days of fighting that raised concerns about further escalation between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
The ISPR said the documentary presented conflicting descriptions of India’s strategy.
On one hand, the production reportedly emphasised surprise attacks, precision strikes and India’s ability to control escalation. On the other, it portrayed India as deliberately limiting the confrontation and giving Pakistan an opportunity to end the fighting.
The ISPR said those competing descriptions undermined the documentary’s credibility as an objective account of the conflict.
It accused Indian content creators of using cinematic techniques to recast what Pakistan considers a military setback as a success.
The ISPR said historical records, battlefield developments, diplomatic exchanges and subsequent public statements should be used to assess the conflict rather than dramatic reconstructions.
Pakistan, it added, remained committed to regional peace and stability but said its armed forces were prepared to defend the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The military warned that any future Indian military action would draw a firm response, while rejecting what it described as efforts to use cinematic productions to reshape perceptions of the 2025 confrontation.
The 12-minute Operation Sindoor documentary focuses heavily on events leading up to Pakistan’s retaliation, while giving comparatively little attention to what followed. Only about two minutes are devoted to the subsequent developments, including claims surrounding the downing of Indian aircraft, with no detailed account of the later stages of the confrontation.
Read more: Operation Radd ul Fitna: Security forces eliminate 9 terrorists in three Balochistan districts
