The Hindu amplifies Pakistani propaganda that three Indian fighter jets crashed in Kashmir, deletes report after being called out
Hours after Indian forces launched a devastating strike on terror targets inside Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, Pakistani media houses and social media users started to spread fake news of Indian fighter planes being hit by Pakistani forces. Many Indian left-liberals also circulated those claims, in an attempt to show that India’s action has proved to be costly. Newspaper The Hindu also joined in spreading this fake narrative, as it ‘reported’ that three Indian fighter jets crashed in Jammu and Kashmir.
However, after it was pointed by netizens that the news is fake and the images used by The Hindu were old, the newspaper was forced to remove the claim and issue an apology.
Earlier today, The Hindu posted on X, saying, “JUST IN | At least three Indian jets have crashed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Akhnoor, Ramban, and Pampore areas, a government official told The Hindu.” They stated that this report was filed by Deputy Editor Vijaita Singh, who has a long history of publishing fake and baseless reports.
The Hindu posted 4 photographs with the tweet, purportedly of the crashed Indian jets. They also published a report on the ‘crash’, saying that a govt official told the publication that at least three Indian jets crashed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Akhnoor, Ramban and Pampore areas on Wednesday. It added that the “officials are yet to reveal the exact circumstances behind these crashes.”
In one of the images used in the report, the caption said, “Wreckage of Indian Air force fighter jet that crashed in Wuyan Pampore, South Kashmir on May 7, 2025.” The caption of another image says, “Fire fighters douse smoke coming out from the debris of an aircraft near Akhnoor on the outskirts of Jammu, on May 7, 2025. “
However, no such crash took place, and the Hindu report was completely baseless. A study of the images published by them shows that the object that crashed onto the ground is actually an external fuel tank, not a fighter jet. Fighter jets on longer missions carry such external fuel tanks under its wings. After the fuels are used, the tanks are jettisoned, and they crash onto the ground. They are called ‘Drop tanks,’ as they are dropped from the air after they are no longer needed.
Therefore, this does not mean that the jets crashed; it just means the jets dumped their external fuel tanks inside Kashmir.
After the claim was found to be false, The Hindu deleted the post, and ‘regretted’ it created confusion among people.
The newspaper posted on X, “We have deleted an earlier post about Indian aircraft involved in Operation Sindoor. There is no such on-record official information from India. We therefore decided to remove the post from our platforms. We regret that it created confusion among our readers.”
News