A Deepfake video is being falsely shared as Colonel Sofiya Qureshi’s admission that Pakistan captured IAF pilot Shivangi Singh during Operation Sindoor
Following the 22 April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack, India launched Operation Sindoor, escalating tensions along the Line of Control (LoC). Both sides reported intensified cross-border firing and armed forces operations, leading to military and civilian casualties (here, here, and here). After days of attacks from both sides, a ceasefire agreement was reached through high-level military and diplomatic talks on 10 May 2025. However, Pakistan reportedly violated this agreement within hours of its announcement. Pakistani drones were sighted and intercepted in various parts of Jammu and Kashmir, including Srinagar, as well as regions of Gujarat (here, here).
Amid the ongoing tensions, a purported video of Colonel Sofiya Qureshi addressing a press meet (here, and here) is going viral on social media, claiming that she admitted Pakistan captured IAF pilot Shivangi Singh during Operation Sindoor. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video shows Colonel Sofiya Qureshi of the Indian army admitting that IAF pilot Shivangi Singh was captured by Pakistan during Operation Sindoor.
Fact: This viral video, which claims to show Colonel Sofiya Qureshi admitting that IAF pilot Shivangi Singh was captured by Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, is a deepfake. The original video shows Colonel Sofiya Qureshi briefing the media on Operation Sindoor on 09 May 2025. During the briefing, she explained how, on the night of 07–08 May 2025, the Pakistani Army repeatedly violated Indian airspace along the western border, targeting key military infrastructure, and how the Indian armed forces successfully retaliated against the attacks. On 11 May 2025, Air Marshal A.K. Bharti confirmed during a press briefing that all pilots involved in Operation Sindoor had returned home safely. Furthermore, Pakistan has not issued any official statement claiming that an Indian Air Force pilot was captured by its forces. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
It is important to note that on 11 May 2025, Air Marshal AK Bharti confirmed in a press briefing of the Indian Forces that all pilots involved in Operation Sindoor had returned home safely.
Pakistan has also not made any official announcement stating that Pakistani forces have captured an Indian Air Force pilot. In a recent press conference, Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Director General of Public Relations Air Vice Marshal Aurangzeb Ahmed, Deputy Chief of Naval Staff (Operations) Vice Admiral Raja Rab Nawaz, and the Pakistan Army’s chief spokesperson Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry shared details about the recent Pakistani operation conducted in response to India’s Operation Sindoor (here, here).
To learn more about the viral video, we conducted a Google reverse image search using keyframes from the video. We found that the clip showing Colonel Sofiya Qureshi of the Indian Army was taken from India’s Ministry of External Affairs press briefing on ‘Operation Sindoor’ held on 09 May 2025 (here, here). In this briefing, Colonel Qureshi explained how, during the night of 07–08 May 2025, the Pakistani Army repeatedly violated Indian airspace along the western border, targeting key military infrastructure, and how the Indian armed forces successfully retaliated against the attacks.
Additionally, we found that this viral video was taken from a video uploaded by ‘DD India’ on its official social media handles and YouTube channel. This clearly indicates that the viral video has been manipulated using AI or deepfake technology by altering the original audio from Colonel Qureshi’s 09 May 2025 briefing on Operation Sindoor.
We then ran this viral video through Hive Moderation, an AI content detection tool, which indicated with 90% confidence that the video contains deepfake or AI-generated content (here). According to the report, the audio was identified as 85% likely to have been generated using artificial intelligence. Based on all this information, it is evident that the viral video is a deepfake.
Additionally, we came across a post on X (formerly Twitter) by the Government of India’s PIB Fact Check unit, dated 10 May 2025, clarifying that no Indian female Air Force pilot has been captured. The post further stated that pro-Pakistan social media accounts are falsely claiming that Squadron Leader Shivangi Singh, an Indian female Air Force pilot, has been captured in Pakistan.
Shivangi Singh is India’s first and only female pilot so far to fly the French-made Rafale fighter jet. She was commissioned into the Indian Air Force (IAF) in 2017. She initially flew the MiG-21 Bison before transitioning to the Rafale fleet in 2020 (here, here, here, and here).
To sum it up, this viral video showing Colonel Sofiya Qureshi admitting that IAF pilot Shivangi Singh was captured by Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, is a deepfake.