A video of Pakistani air pressure jets practising motorway take-offs and landings was filmed in October 2020, opposite to social media posts claiming it reveals an train performed as relations between Pakistan and arch-rival India plunged to a brand new low in April 2025. The clip was printed by the air pressure and an official with the Nationwide Freeway and Motorway Police advised AFP that no air pressure drills have been performed lately on the nation’s motorways.
“Hazard of nuclear struggle looms. Workouts by Pakistan air pressure begin on the motorway,” reads a part of the Urdu-language caption to a video posted on X on April 25, 2025.
“Lengthy stay Pakistan, lengthy stay the Pakistan military.”
The video surfaced as long-troubled relations between India and Pakistan rapidly worsened after a lethal assault in Kashmir that New Delhi blames on Islamabad. Pakistan has rejected India’s accusations as “frivolous” (archived link).
Gunmen killed 26 males within the April 22 assault on holidaymakers in Pahalgam in India-administered Kashmir — the deadliest on civilians within the disputed Himalayan territory in 1 / 4 of a century.
For the reason that assault, the nuclear-armed neighbours have issued tit-for-tat diplomatic measures and traded small arms fireplace throughout the Line of Management, the de facto border in contested Kashmir.
Screenshot of the false X publish, captured on April 29, 2025
The video was additionally shared elsewhere in posts on X, Facebook and TikTok alongside comparable claims.
“Do not publish such movies, do not publish military secrets and techniques..,” learn a touch upon one of many posts.
One other stated: “Lengthy stay Pakistan.”.
The clip, nonetheless, first surfaced greater than 4 years earlier.
A reverse image search on Google utilizing keyframes from the falsely shared clip led to the identical footage printed on YouTube by the Pakistan Air Power on October 7, 2020 (archived link).
The YouTube video is titled, “PAF fighters conduct landings on motorway, PAF Press Launch, 07 Oct 2020”.
Screenshot comparability of the falsely shared video (left) and the YouTube clip (proper)
“PAF fighter plane landed on the Islamabad Lahore motorway because it carried out Street Runway operations at the moment,” reads the video’s description.
The outline added that the air pressure “repeatedly undertakes Street runway operations as a part of its operational preparedness plan”.
The YouTube video was additionally embedded in a report by Pakistan information outlet Geo Information concerning the train on October 7, 2020 (archived link).
Furthermore, an official from the Nationwide Freeway and Motorway Police (NHMP) advised AFP on April 28 that no air pressure drills had been performed on motorways lately, describing the posts as “misinformation”.
AFP has debunked different false claims stemming from the Kashmir assault here and here.
