Rawalpindi, August 18, 2026: Pakistan’s military media wing on Tuesday rejected an Indian documentary on “Operation Sindoor” as a “Bollywood-style” propaganda production, accusing New Delhi of attempting to portray what Pakistan described as a military failure as a successful operation.
In a strongly worded statement, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said India had produced a “highly dramatised, coloured and factually inaccurate” account of the May 2025 conflict, using selectively edited interviews, emotional narration and cinematic reconstruction to alter the established facts and present a preferred version of events.
“More than a year after Marka-i-Haq, India refuses to face the harsh reality. Instead of conceding defeat in a failed venture, India has decided to colour history in her preferred hues,” the ISPR said.
Pakistan refers to last year’s brief military confrontation with India as “Marka-i-Haq” (Battle of Truth). The conflict followed the April 22, 2025, Pahalgam attack and culminated in a ceasefire on May 10 after US intervention.
India had described its May 7, 2025, strikes against Pakistan as “Operation Sindoor”, saying they were conducted in response to the Pahalgam attack.
The ISPR criticised the documentary for what it called a lack of nuance and factual accuracy, saying its narrative contained “fundamental contradictions” that exposed an attempt to create a domestically acceptable account of the conflict.
The military’s media wing particularly challenged what it described as an attempt to establish a connection between an address by Pakistan’s army chief on April 16, 2025, and the Pahalgam attack six days later.
According to the ISPR, the documentary sought to portray the two events as part of a deliberate sequence, which it described as an attempt to “conjure a conspiracy theory out of nothing”.
The statement also questioned India’s claim regarding the alleged perpetrators of the Pahalgam attack.
ISPR noted that India later claimed that three alleged perpetrators were identified and killed on July 28, 2025, 82 days after Operation Sindoor.
“If the alleged perpetrators were eliminated on July 28, India must explain, who it claims to have punished on May 7, 2025,” the statement said.
The ISPR also rejected the documentary’s portrayal of Operation Sindoor as a complete military success, saying the claim of “100 per cent mission success” was inconsistent with what it described as the operational record.
It said Pakistan’s armed forces had thwarted Indian military action during Marka-i-Haq and claimed that eight Indian military aircraft were shot down.
The ISPR further said Pakistan subsequently launched Operation Bunyanum Marsoos, using precision-guided rockets and missiles, Pakistan Air Force precision munitions, long-range loitering munitions and precision artillery against 26 military targets.
According to the statement, the targets included facilities allegedly used to attack Pakistani citizens and entities that Pakistan accused of involvement in fomenting terrorism.
The ISPR argued that statements by Indian military leaders contained in the documentary itself undermined its portrayal of an overwhelming Indian victory.
“Indian military leadership acknowledges extensive Pakistani missile, drone and air activity, sustained engagements along the Line of Control and the activation of Indian air-defence systems,” it said.
“These admissions are difficult to reconcile with its repeated portrayal of Pakistan being decisively defeated,” the statement added.
The ISPR also challenged the documentary’s account of how hostilities ended.
It said the documentary itself acknowledged that the fighting ended following communication between the Director Generals of Military Operations of Pakistan and India and an agreed cessation of military action.
The ISPR said this contradicted any attempt to portray Operation Sindoor as an exclusively unilateral Indian military victory.
“A cessation of hostilities, facilitated by the United States, cannot subsequently be repurposed as evidence of unconditional victory,” it said.
The military’s media wing also accused the documentary of presenting contradictory claims regarding escalation.
It said the production simultaneously emphasised “surprise, precision, deep strikes and escalation dominance” while claiming that India had deliberately limited the conflict and provided Pakistan an “exit window”.
“These competing claims expose the production as a carefully constructed domestic narrative rather than an objective military account,” the ISPR said.
In its concluding remarks, the ISPR accused India of attempting to rewrite the history of the conflict through a dramatised presentation.
“India has not declassified the truth. It has cobbled together a propaganda video to project a military blunder as a successful endeavour,” it said.
The statement added that no amount of cinematic reconstruction could change the chronology of events, erase aircraft losses or alter the military engagements that took place.
“Pakistan has no need to manufacture a narrative around Marka-i-Haq. The operational record, battlefield evidence, diplomatic exchanges and India’s own subsequent statements speak for themselves,” the ISPR said.
The military media wing reaffirmed Pakistan’s stated commitment to regional peace and stability while warning that the country’s armed forces remained prepared to defend Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
It said any future military action against Pakistan would receive a “firm, decisive and disproportionate response”, concluding that no cinematic production could provide India with a face-saving account of what Pakistan described as a battlefield defeat.
