Last month, during a speech in the Senate, Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar cited an article allegedly published by the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, titled “Pakistan Air Force: The Undisputed King of the Skies”.
This reference came amid heightened tensions with India following the Pahalgam attack on April 22.
Soon after social media users claimed that the article Dar referred to was never published by the British daily.
The online claims are true. The Daily Telegraph did not publish any such article.
Claim
On May 15, Dar criticised India for escalating conflict following a terror attack in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
While commending the Pakistan Air Force’s response during the flare-up, Dar referenced an alleged article in The Daily Telegraph, which he claimed called the Pakistan Air Force as the “undisputed king of the skies.”
“It is the bravery and hard work of the armed forces. Machines don’t just work on their own. That Pakistan was able to succeed at such a scale. Not a single aircraft of ours was damaged. Six jet fighters of India were brought down… This is not just me saying this. What does The Daily Telegraph write? Pakistan Air Force is the undisputed king of the skies.”
Dar’s remarks can be viewed at the 1:36:55 timestamp.
Multiple online users then alleged that Pakistan’s foreign minister had “invoked a fake AI-generated report from the Telegraph”.
Fact
No such article has been published by The Daily Telegraph. The article referenced by the foreign minister appears to be AI-generated.
The supposed piece, dated May 10 and titled “Pakistan Air Force: The Undisputed King of the Skies,” is claimed to have appeared on the front page of the newspaper.
However, the archived version of The Daily Telegraph’s May 10 edition is publicly available, and it does not feature any such article on the front page or elsewhere.
The edition can be accessed here:
Geo Fact Check also independently reviewed the purported article. It displays clear signs of being AI-generated. The first paragraph includes indecipherable text. Then, there are grammatical errors such as “praized” instead of “praised” and “Aur Force” instead of “Air Force.”
Additionally, the website URL of the publication is incorrect, and the price of the Saturday edition is inaccurate.
Verdict: The article cited by the deputy prime minister does not exist in The Daily Telegraph. The version he referenced is likely fabricated and AI-generated.
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