FACT CHECK: Indian media outlets use wrong image to show Pak jet shot down in Panjshir
Indian media outlets have reported that Pakistani jet was shot when it was providing air support to the Taliban in Panjshir.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 13 Sept 2021 2:30 PM IST
HYDERABAD: Indian media outlets have reported that Pakistani jet was shot when it was providing air support to the Taliban in Panjshir.
India Today carried a visual of a jet. It used a tweet by '@mohsood123' purportedly the official account of NRF leader Ahmad Massoud. He claimed that a Pakistani jet was shot down during the resistance. The same visuals were carried by TV9 Hindi, Dainik Bhaskar, and Live Hindustan.
"National Resistance Front (NRF) leader Ahmed Massoud, who is fighting the Taliban in Panjshir province of Afghanistan, has claimed to have shot down a Pakistani jet," TV9 Hindi said.
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FACT CHECK:
Firstly, it should be noted that the Twitter account @mohsood123 that has been used as evidence given by Ahmad Massoud is an imposter account. It is not his official account. The username has been misspelled as 'mohsood' instead of Massoud.
His official Twitter account is "@AhmadMassoud01". Pakistani journalist Hamza Azhar Salam tweeted: "Hi. I wanted to clarify that the account of Ahmad Massoud used in your report is fake. His real account is @AhmadMassoud01. The picture used is not a Pakistani jet in #panjshir, it's a US jet in Arizona from 2018. I hope you will correct the report."
Secondly, the visual carried by the media organizations is of a US jet in Arizona from 2018. The same image was carried in an article by 'Military' in 2018. The report states that an F-16 fighter jet had crashed in Arizona while taking off from Luke Air Force Base.
The report reads, "a U.S. F-16 Fighting Falcon from Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, crash-landed during a routine training flight near the Arizona-California border."
The pilot had ejected and was in a good condition, the officials said. Reports by ABC News and ABC15 Arizona also carry similar images of the incident.
Evidently, the visuals carried by the media outlets are not linked to the NRF resistance. Thus, the claim of the image showing a Pakistani jet being shot down during the resistance is false.
