Following a terrorist attack on November 11 at a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) checkpoint in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district, a video went viral on social media with the claim that retired Indian Army officer and journalist Pravin Sawhney described Indian military and counter-terrorism drives in the valley as “false flag operations”.
Social media users claimed that Sawhney said that operations against the Kulgam attack, the Balakot airstrikes, and Operation Sindoor were orchestrated for political gains.
X user @RedDeFactoIND (Red Vanguard) shared the viral clip, which shows an interview conducted by The Wire. (Archive)
𝗘𝘅-𝗔𝗿𝗺𝘆 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲𝗿 𝗗𝗿𝗼𝗽𝘀 𝗕𝗼𝗺𝗯𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗹🚨: Pravin Sawhney in Recent Interview for Wire said, “Another false flag, just like Pulwama and Pahalgam,This is a pattern”
Indian journalists and influencers are now openly questioning the government’s narrative.
The voices from within are getting louder.#CRPFSoldiers #CRPFCampAttack #kulgamattack #Kulgam #KulgamTerrorAttack
— Red Vanguard (@RedDeFactoIND) November 12, 2026
In the viral clip, the interviewer can first be heard saying (translated from Hindi): “Sushant, I want to know from you…the theme of your latest essay is the politicisation of army…During the false flag operations like Balakot and Pahalgam, the way the Bharatiya Janata Party used the military for political gains. My second question is that today while there is a war-like situation in the world…is testing the Pralay missile is an indication of a new false flag operation?”
“On one side China is occupying [Indian land], on the other there are CJP protests…Rahul Gandhi…,” the interviewer goes on to say before his voice is abruptly cut off.
The interviewee then seems to respond with, “Two things are very clear. One, for false flag operations like Balakot and Pahalgam, Operation Sindoor was launched but the Indian army failed. Second, my answers are within your questions.”
Several other users on X and Facebook also circulated the same video with identical claims. Among them were X handles @KaurUdhoke3 and @HinduReformer, along with multiple public Facebook pages focusing on South Asian geopolitics. [Archives: 1, 2]
Fact Check
A closer look at the viral video reveals noticeable lip-sync discrepancies and an unnatural, monotonous cadence in the voices of both men in the interview, which are salient features of AI-generated audio manipulation.
Further, columnist and strategic affairs expert Sushant Singh has been misidentified in the viral video as Pravin Sawhney. In the viral video itself, the interviewer refers to the interviewee as Sushant, and not Pravin. Below is an image of Sawhney, who does not appear in the viral clip.
On November 13, Singh himself took to X to debunk the clip, clarifying that the video was AI-generated, and highlighting that users had also misidentified him.
This is AI generated video of an old interview, which completely fabricates my conversation with @ashubh. This Pakistan-made AI video clip not only gets my identity wrong but creates what was never said.
The original full interview of March 2025 is here: https://t.co/Y6teNLJDfg
— Sushant Singh (@SushantSin) November 13, 2026
In his post, Singh also attached a link to the original YouTube interview from which the visuals were taken. Alt News examined the original video uploaded on The Wire’s official YouTube channel in March 2025.
Comparing the viral clip with the March 2025 interview confirms that the visual frames, including Singh’s attire, the background setting, and lighting, are identical. However, the audio track in the viral clip has been changed using AI.
In the original interview, Singh makes no mention of Kulgam, Pulwama, Balakot, or any ‘false flag operations’. Instead, he is heard discussing civil-military relations and institutional oversight.
To sum up, a manipulated video of journalist and strategic affairs analyst Sushant Singh is circulating on social media with users misidentifying him as journalist and FORCE editor Pravin Sawhney. The claim that the speaker in the video termed India’s counter-terrorism measures in Kulgam and Pulwama ‘false flag operations’ is false as well.
