ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s military has strongly rejected India’s portrayal of the 2025 India-Pakistan conflict in a documentary about Operation Sindoor, accusing New Delhi of presenting a selective and inaccurate account of the military confrontation.
In a statement issued Tuesday, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations, or ISPR, criticized what it described as a highly dramatized, “Bollywood-style” production designed to portray India’s military operation as a success. The Pakistani military argued that the documentary relies on selective interviews, emotional narration and cinematic reconstructions rather than presenting an objective account of the confrontation.
The dispute relates to the brief but serious military conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours following the April 22, 2025 attack on tourists in Pahalgam, Kashmir. India subsequently launched strikes against targets in Pakistan on May 7 under the name Operation Sindoor.
Pakistan responded militarily, including through an operation it called Bunyanum Marsoos. Hostilities ended on May 10 following communication between the two countries’ military leadership and diplomatic efforts involving the United States.
Pakistan officially refers to the broader confrontation as Marka-i-Haq, or “Battle of Truth.”
ISPR challenged several claims presented in the Indian documentary, including its description of Operation Sindoor as a successful response against those responsible for the Pahalgam attack.
The Pakistani military pointed to what it described as a contradiction in the chronology. India later announced that three alleged perpetrators of the Pahalgam attack had been identified and killed on July 28, 2025, more than two months after Operation Sindoor.
ISPR argued that if those individuals were indeed the perpetrators, India should explain whom it targeted during its May 7 operation. Pakistan said this discrepancy undermines the documentary’s presentation of Operation Sindoor as direct punishment of those responsible for Pahalgam.
The Pakistani military also disputed India’s reported characterization of the operation as a complete mission success.
ISPR claimed Pakistani forces successfully resisted the Indian attacks and shot down eight military aircraft during the conflict. It also said Pakistan subsequently used precision-guided rockets and missiles, air force munitions, long-range loitering weapons and artillery against 26 Indian military targets.
Those are claims made by the Pakistani military, and the two countries have continued to offer sharply different accounts of the military losses, operational results and overall outcome of the confrontation.
ISPR further argued that statements by Indian military officials included in the documentary appear inconsistent with a narrative of overwhelming Indian battlefield dominance.
According to Pakistan’s statement, Indian officials acknowledged significant Pakistani missile, drone and air activity, sustained fighting along the Line of Control and the activation of Indian air-defence systems during the confrontation.
Pakistan contends that these acknowledgements demonstrate that the conflict involved substantial military engagement by both sides rather than the one-sided victory it says the documentary attempts to portray.
The circumstances surrounding the end of the fighting have also become part of the competing narratives.
ISPR said the documentary acknowledges that hostilities ended following communication between the directors general of military operations of India and Pakistan and an agreement to cease military action.
Pakistan argues that this makes it misleading to characterize the outcome as an unconditional or unilateral Indian military victory. ISPR also emphasized the diplomatic role played by the United States in bringing the fighting to an end.
The Pakistani statement additionally challenged India’s description of escalation during the conflict. It said the documentary emphasizes India’s ability to achieve surprise, conduct precision strikes and maintain escalation dominance while also suggesting that New Delhi deliberately limited the confrontation and provided Pakistan with an opportunity to disengage.
ISPR described those arguments as contradictory and accused India of constructing a narrative intended primarily for a domestic audience.
India and Pakistan have long offered competing interpretations of their military confrontations, and the 2025 conflict has been no exception. Both governments have emphasized their own military successes while challenging the credibility of claims made by the other side.
The latest disagreement demonstrates that more than a year after the confrontation, the battle over how the conflict should be remembered and interpreted remains very much alive.
Pakistan’s military said it considers its own operational record and battlefield evidence sufficient to support its version of events and rejected the suggestion that a documentary could alter what it says actually occurred during the confrontation.
ISPR concluded its statement by saying Pakistan remains committed to regional peace and stability while maintaining that its armed forces are prepared to defend the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The unusually strong response to the Indian documentary illustrates the continuing sensitivity surrounding the 2025 conflict and the sharply competing narratives maintained by New Delhi and Islamabad over responsibility, military losses and which side achieved its strategic objectives.