How disinformation affects the communal fabric of South Asia
As global currents of polarisation — from immigration tensions to communal conflicts — sweep the world, South Asia is no exception. The Pahalgam attack, where terrorists forced the tourists to reveal their religion before pulling the trigger, wasn't just a blow to Kashmir. It was a calculated strike on South Asia's fragile communal harmony and trust. Added to this was hate and disinformation that was spread through social media.
In a time scarred by communal division, gestures of unity can be healing. At a press conference held by the Ministry of Defence of the Government of India, where Sikh, Muslim, and Hindu officers — Commodore Raghu R Nair, Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, and Colonel Sofia Qureshi — stood shoulder to shoulder to brief the press, there was a fleeting glimpse of a pluralist nation that stands against any communal onslaught.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Zubair of Alt News, a fact-checker, earned rare acclaim for dismantling disinformation on X, a small victory for truth in a fractured public square. But social media platforms erupted with toxic lies, smearing minorities as disloyal, while TV anchors turned newsrooms into battlegrounds, peddling falsehoods. Unverified claims of Indian strikes on Islamabad and Karachi made headlines.
In Pakistan, Hindu minorities faced a raw deal. Just a week before the Pahalgam attack, Pakistan Army Chief General Syed Asim Munir declared, 'We differ from Hindus in every way'. The blunt Hindu-Muslim divide, articulated days before the attack, obliterated Pakistan's claims of restraint and any hope for diplomacy. Disinformation permeated press briefings. Media intensified falsehoods with concocted footage of Pakistani strikes on Delhi's airport, while the Deputy Prime Minister stoked national fervour for the air force, wielding a falsified Daily Telegraph clipping.
Bangladesh, with 13 million Hindus, sidestepped the recent conflagration but could not escape its tremors. The interim government stayed neutral, yet public opinion leaned toward Pakistan, as per a few reports of The Diplomat.
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It is a meticulously crafted crucible, designed to render every minority an alien in their own land. Disinformation surged to alarming extremes. Quite visible are the recycled Gaza explosions passed off as Indian strikes or video game clips and ARMA 3, floated as Pakistani military success, racking up millions of views on X before fact-checkers called them out. Algorithms, indifferent to truth, amplified engagement to turn smartphones into conduits of hate, silencing voices of peace.
How to contain such a spread of disinformation? First, governments must cease tolerating a disinformation ecosystem that festers unchecked. Censoring media and imprisoning journalists only deepens public mistrust, while social media accounts spreading lies during conflict must cease their operation. Media literacy initiatives must lead the charge, equipping civil society with the tools to sharpen digital discernment. Second, countries need to protect the vulnerable. It would be beneficial to form task forces that would only track disinformation. The Pahalgam attack exposed how terror, hate, and disinformation can push South Asia's vibrant diversity into tatters. With nearly 220 million Hindu and Muslim minorities across three countries and a history of bad blood, South Asia cannot afford any communal flare-up through disinformation.
The writer is a German Chancellor Fellow at the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, based in Berlin
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