When everything was quiet in the high-altitude Doklam where the armies of India and China are engaged in a stand-off for about a month, the Pakistani media suddenly went abuzz with reports of how Chinese soldiers have killed 158 Indian jawans.
With not a single media report coming from either China or India on the so-called “Chinese attack”, the news was quickly branded a false.
A file photo showing Indian and Chinese jawans somewhere along the border. Wikimedia Commons
According to Dunya News, an Urdu language news service in Pakistan, at least 158 Indian soldiers had been killed and several others injured on Monday due to a Chinese rocket attack across the border.
But Chinese mainstream media outlets on Tuesday denounced Pakistani media’s “groundless” report, which claims that over 158 Indian soldiers were killed in Sikkim due to a Chinese rocket attack.
Chinese Soldiers on duty front. Wikimedia Commons
India had already rejected the news and Gopal Baglay, spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, had said that the reports are “utterly baseless, malicious, and mischievous.”
Meanwhile, Chinese media outlets have carried out a series of investigations, claiming that the fake news should not be taken seriously.
According to an investigative report released by the People’s Daily on Tuesday, the Chinese embassy in India had noticed the report and has denounced its authenticity.
Chinese soldiers on Chinese side of Nathu La. PTI
The report also said that some Pakistani media outlets claimed that the fake news was based on unverified information from the social media and internet.
The Global Times also published a report on Tuesday, calling the Pakistani media report “groundless and fake.”
Chinese authorities are yet to responded to the incident, while the fake news article is still posted on Dunya News’ website.
Doklam is now in the middle of a border dispute between three countries. Wikimedia Commons
India and China have ongoing border disputes. The Indian Army and Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) are engaged in a stand-off at Doklam along the Bhutan-Sikkim-China tri-junction for the last one month.
The Chinese media has reported that a brigade responsible for frontline combat operations has held “live fire exercises” in Tibet with a focus on boosting its “quick delivery of troops” against India.