Fact Check: Old Video of Army Recruits Falsely Linked to India-Pakistan Tensions
After India launched Operation Sindoor, striking nine terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation
Claim :
Viral video shows Indian soldiers crying and abandoning their posts amid the India-Pakistan tensionsFact :
Viral video is an old one, it is not related to recent India-Pakistan tensions
After India launched Operation Sindoor, striking nine terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 people, Pakistan launched drone and missile attacks at various locations along the western borders with India. Indian armed forces swiftly intercepted them using the Air defence systems.
The Army, in a press release posted on X (formerly Twitter), stated, “OPERATION SINDOOR: Pakistan Armed Forces launched multiple attacks using drones and other munitions along the entire Western Border on the intervening night of 08 and 09 May 2025. Pak troops also resorted to numerous ceasefire violations (CFVs) along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. The drone attacks were effectively repulsed, and a befitting reply was given to the CFVs. #IndianArmy remains committed to safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Nation. All nefarious designs will be responded to with force.” While India has refrained from escalating retaliatory action beyond “befitting replies,” the nature and scale of the attacks are raising fears of a broader conflict.
Meanwhile, a video showing Indian soldiers crying and hugging another soldier is being shared by Pakistani social media handles with a false narrative that Indian soldiers are crying and refusing to go to the border. The users are sharing the video with the captions in Urdu “భారతీయ ఫౌజీ కా బార్డర్ పర్ జానే సే ఇన్కార్ పాక్ ఫౌజ్ జిందా బాద్” when translated “Indian Soldier refuses to go to the border, long live Pakistan army”
Here is the archive link of the claim.
Fact Check:
The claim is False. The video is an old one and shows the emotion a soldier who got selected to the Indian Army. When we extracted keyframes from the viral video and searched them using Google reverse image search, we found that it was shared by a YouTube channel named Defence Lover with the title “Indian army” on May 3, 2025
The same video was shared by an Instagram account named Indore Physical Academy on May 3, 2025.
When we searched further, we found a YouTube channel named ‘The Rashtradharma’ that debunked the video and stated that it was an old one. The video was shared with the title ‘Old video alert! Indore Physical Academy’
We found a longer video shared by the Indian Physical Academy on April 20, 2025 stating that ‘both the soldiers have joined the Army to save the country’. The video had the watermark of Indore Physical Academy.
The claim has also been verified by PIB fact check, which stated, "Old Video Alert! In an old video, it is being claimed that Indian soldiers are crying and abandoning their posts as the India-Pakistan war intensifies #PIBFactCheck. This video was posted on Instagram on April 27 and is NOT related to the Indian Army!
https://instagram.com/reel/DI8EuN8IDd2/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link…
The video depicts students from a private defense coaching institute celebrating their selection into the Indian Army. The youth in the video reportedly became emotional with joy upon receiving news of their successful recruitment.
Hence, the viral video is an old one showing students of a physical academy getting emotional after getting selected into the Indian army. The claim that Indian soldiers are crying to report for duty amid the war is False.
