On Twitter, a retired Indian army commander became the punchline of a joke after mistaking a photo from a Pakistani military-themed film for one of the Pakistani troops, who he falsely claimed were martyred in Afghanistan’s Panjshir valley.
Maj Gen GD Bakshi, a former Indian Army officer gave rise to apparent confusion when he posted a tweet that said that Pakistan has suffered heavy casualties in Panjshir in which the resistance fighters and Taliban were engaged in heavy fighting.
Bakshi, without sharing any concrete evidence, tweeted that a great majority of Pakistani soldiers lost their lives while fighting with the Taliban in Panjshir. He wrote in his tweets that “Maj Gen Adil Rehmani has come back to organize discreet funerals in [the] dead of night.”
Although Twitter does not verify the account, however, tweets of Bakshi have been reported many times by the Indian media in the past. Bakshi, who served in the Indian army for many years and holds a Ph.D. in military history, is well-known for spreading bogus news on Indian television.
In response to his latest statements regarding Pakistani soldiers, the Pakistani account @Fauji_Doctor tweeted a photo from the shoot of the 2017 Pakistani film *Yalghaar* to mock the Indian ex-officer. He wrote, “My class fellow from school days Maj Aijaj 2nd from left and Capt Jufar 1st from left embraced martyrdom in Panjshir.”
The two uniformed individuals he was referring to are renowned Pakistani actors Shaan Shahid and Umair Jaswal, neither of whom is a member of the military services.
Former Indian officer Maj Gen Harsha Kakar without having done any investigation shared the screenshot of “Fauji_Doctor’s reply to Bakshi and labeled it as the truth behind Panjshir.
He said, “This shameful nation with a shameful leadership refuses to honor its dead.”
Pakistanis were amused by the Indian ex-officers naivety, with Shaan himself responding to Bakshi’s original tweet with Yalghaar posters. He wrote “Hello from the other side,” with the pictures.
Umair Jaswal also found it hilarious and responded to Bakshi in the commando outfit.
Background
The Taliban stated on Monday that they took control of Panjshir, the final stronghold of anti-Taliban troops in the country, with the occupation of Panjshir fake news of Pakistan’s military engagement in Afghanistan also started appearing.
At least two Indian television channels reported showing Pakistani drones assaulting anti-Taliban fighters in Panjshir. However, fact-check website Boom found out that the viral image was a part of a longer video recording from a video game Arma-3.
