Since August 5, 2019, the day India abrogated Article 370 of its Constitution—removing the temporary special status of Jammu and Kashmir—Pakistan has unleashed a relentless disinformation war against India, driven not by concern for Kashmiris but by its pathological obsession with the region and its desperation to cling to a lost narrative. This campaign, built on falsehoods, doctored visuals, and propaganda masquerading as journalism, has tried to present a sovereign constitutional decision as an international crisis. Yet, beneath this façade lies a crumbling state frantically gasping for relevance as India moves forward with peace, progress, and prosperity in Kashmir. In the immediate aftermath of the abrogation, Pakistan’s state machinery, led by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and its media arm ISPR, launched a globally coordinated online propaganda blitz. Over 5,000 fake social media accounts—mostly on Twitter and Facebook—were exposed by digital forensics teams as being run from within Pakistan or by Pakistani-linked IP addresses, pushing hashtags like #KashmirSiege, #KashmirUnderAttack, and #GenocideInKashmir. An EU DisinfoLab report in 2020 revealed a massive network of 750+ fake media outlets across 119 countries run by Pakistan-based actors, aimed at defaming India on international platforms. One of the key outlets, “Times of Geneva,” pretended to be a credible news agency but was in fact part of this fake ecosystem, regularly publishing baseless stories about Kashmir.
Pakistan’s state-sponsored media and even official government handles shared videos allegedly showing Indian forces brutalizing Kashmiris. Many of these videos were proven to be fake or outdated, with some traced to unrelated conflicts in Syria, Palestine, and even Pakistan’s own restive Balochistan. Despite global fact-checking agencies debunking these images, they continued to circulate, revealing a campaign driven more by malicious intent than truth. This is not just disinformation; it’s psychological warfare. On the ground, Pakistan’s narrative collapsed further. Contrary to its claims of a human rights catastrophe in Kashmir, *not a single mass grave or widespread civilian massacre* was found by any independent international organization in the aftermath of the abrogation. Foreign diplomats from the US, EU, and OIC were taken to Jammu and Kashmir multiple times since 2019. Most of them openly acknowledged the significant improvement in security, governance, and civic infrastructure in the region. The lie that Article 370 protected Kashmiri identity is perhaps the biggest myth Pakistan continues to pedal. In reality, Article 370 created a political vacuum and a legal apartheid. It excluded Jammu & Kashmir from over 830 central laws, including those for women’s rights, child protection, anti-corruption, and affirmative action for economically weaker sections. For example, under the old regime, Kashmiri women who married non-Kashmiris lost property rights—now, they don’t. Dalits and Valmiki communities, brought decades ago to clean streets, were denied citizenship in their own land—now, they are full citizens with voting rights. This is the justice Pakistan doesn’t want the world to see. Meanwhile, Pakistan—a self-proclaimed champion of Kashmir—can’t hide its own bloody hypocrisy. In Balochistan, more than 7,000 cases of enforced disappearances have been reported since 2001. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan itself has documented mass graves, military atrocities, and blanket suppression in Sindh, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. While Pakistan screams about alleged curfews in Kashmir, it has enforced actual media blackouts in entire provinces like Balochistan, where foreign journalists are banned and locals are detained without trial.
And what did Article 370 achieve for Kashmir in seven decades? Stagnation. Unemployment in Jammu and Kashmir stood at 16.2% in 2018, nearly double the national average, with zero foreign direct investment. Since its abrogation, things have changed dramatically. By 2023, over ₹56,000 crore worth of investment proposals were received by the UT government. The G20 Tourism Working Group Meeting held in Srinagar in 2023—attended by delegates from over 20 countries—was a watershed moment, symbolizing Kashmir’s reintegration into the global economy despite Pakistan’s desperate attempts to sabotage it. Tourism, once crippled by militancy, has seen a record boom. In 2022, over 1.88 crore tourists visited Jammu and Kashmir—the highest in 75 years. That number has only grown. By mid-2025, the government projects over 2.5 crore visitors, generating employment for lakhs of locals. New infrastructure projects—like the world’s highest railway bridge over the Chenab, AIIMS in Vijaypur, and multiple hydropower plants—have begun transforming the economic landscape. Security, too, has improved. Incidents of stone-pelting, which numbered over 1,200 in 2016, dropped to single digits by 2023. Local youth, once manipulated through ISI-funded radicalization and online jihadist content, are now enrolling in civil services, starting businesses, and working in tourism and tech. Over 21,000 new government jobs have been created, and private sector training programs are upskilling youth in AI, cybersecurity, and entrepreneurship. The Kashmir of today is not angry—it’s ambitious.
This progress has rattled Islamabad to the core. Pakistan’s disinformation has shifted from fake videos to lobbying OIC nations with misleading dossiers and cherry-picked testimonies. Yet, the Islamic world isn’t buying the lies anymore. The UAE signed investment MoUs in Kashmir; Saudi Arabia expressed interest in renewable energy projects in Ladakh. Turkey and Malaysia, once vocal supporters of Pakistan, have gone silent as they realize that Islamabad’s Kashmir fixation is neither strategic nor sincere—it’s simply a way to deflect from its collapsing economy and imploding polity. Meanwhile, Pakistan itself is in crisis. Inflation has crossed 30%, debt-to-GDP ratio is nearing 90%, and its youth unemployment is a staggering 27%. Political instability is rife, with puppet prime ministers, military crackdowns, and journalists either jailed or exiled. In 2024 alone, over 35 terrorist attacks occurred inside Pakistan, many by groups it once nurtured. While India builds schools in Kashmir, Pakistan is busy bombing its own tribal regions with fighter jets.
Perhaps most damning is the complete lack of agency Pakistan gives to Kashmiris themselves. In India, the first-ever District Development Council (DDC) elections in 2020 saw over 51% voter turnout, even amid threats from Pakistan-backed terror groups. These were democratic voices rejecting violence and choosing ballots over bullets. In contrast, Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) remains politically stifled, with its recent elections marred by rigging, protests, and police brutality. Over 25 people were injured in July 2024 during demonstrations demanding basic amenities like water and electricity—yet, Pakistan calls this region “Azad” (free). Pakistan’s obsession with Kashmir is no longer about territory—it’s about narrative survival. The abrogation of Article 370 was not just a legal reform, it was a paradigm shift that left Pakistan’s decades-old propaganda model obsolete. Deprived of its favorite grievance card, it is now resorting to digital manipulation, emotional blackmail, and international gaslighting. But this campaign, like the state sponsoring it, is built on sand. It cannot withstand truth, progress, or time. As the world moves on, and as Kashmiris look forward to a future unchained from the past, Pakistan remains trapped in its own falsehoods, unable to offer its own citizens what India is delivering to Kashmiris—peace, dignity, development, and hope. That is the real tragedy of this disinformation war. Not that Pakistan is lying—but that it has nothing better to offer.
Asif Majeed is a Research Fellow at International Centre for Peace Studies (ICPS), New Delhi
