The column treats ISPR as unreliable, citing the Feb. 27, 2019 briefing that cut captured Indian pilots from three to two to one, and reads the unnamed man said to be in a military hospital as proof a Pakistani pilot also bailed out—an inference, not a released identity.

It says Shah Mehmood Qureshi placed Masood Azhar in Pakistan and ill, then ISPR said Jaish-e-Mohammed did not exist, and recalls a Kargil-era parade of a supposed officer whose papers India had shown.

On Hashim Musa, ISPR is said to have produced a man claiming to be the real person after the army said it killed an LeT member; the author links the briefing to the coming FATF meeting, without new documentary proof of SSG service.

Pakistan army’s media wing Inter Services Public Relations [ISPR] is perhaps one of the best sources of unadulterated amusement and  its incredulous narratives being so similar to fairy tales invoke nostalgia by reviving childhood memories. While some people inexplicably vanish into thin air without any trace whatsoever, others suddenly appear from nowhere-and it’s this unique twist in the tall stories conjured by ISPR that makes them so addictive.

ISPR’s penchant for coming out with comical statements has been aptly captured in a widely circulated meme on social media. This is a digitally created photo of a pouch of a non-existent brand named Lahori Churan [an herbal appetizer from Lahore] along with a mug-shot of DGISPR Lt Gen Ahmed Shareef Chaudhary and the bye line “Jazbe wali kaum ke liye [For the community full of fervour].” Though it contains no message, yet this meme fittingly drives home the point that ISPR’s statements are so palpably questionable that they just can’t be digested without help of an appetizer!

Curious Disappearance

On February 27, 2019, an aerial combat took place between the Indian Air Force [IAF] and Pakistani Air Force [PAF] in which Wing commander Abhinandan Varthaman of IAF who downed a PAF fighter jet was also shot down.  After he bailed out and landed in Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir [PoJK], he was apprehended by the Pakistan army . However, Director General [DG] ISPR tweeted that PAF shot down two Indian aircrafts” and one Indian pilot [had been] arrested by troops on ground while two [other pilots were] in the area.”

Just a few hours later, DGISPR announced that only two........

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