Viral memo ‘confirming’ radiation leak in Pakistan is fake

Ever since director general of air operations (DGAO) Awadhesh Kumar Bharti revealed that the Indian Air Force had hit several military targets in Pakistan on the intervening night of May 9 and 10, speculation has been rife on whether Kirana Hills was among the sites that had been struck. Kirana Hills is believed to be a major nuclear storage facility in Pakistan. 

Amid the speculation, a purported office memorandum issued by Pakistan’s ministry of climate change & environmental coordination has gone viral on social media. This so-called memorandum ‘confirms’ a radiation leak at a facility in the ‘Northern Administrative Zone’. An image of the memo has been added below:

Giving out specific details about India’s retaliatory strikes, DGAO Bharti said on May 11, “A decision was taken to strike where it would hurt and towards that in a swift, coordinated, calibrated attack, we stuck its air bases, command centers, military infrastructure, air defence systems across the entire Western Front. The bases we struck include Chaklala, Rafiq, Rahim Yar Khan, sending a clear message that aggression will not be tolerated. This was followed by strikes at Sargodha, Bhulari, and Jacobabad..”

Kirana hills is approximately 8 km southeast of the Sargodha Air Base in Sargodha division in central Punjab, Pakistan.

X user Abhi ™ (@Patelizm) shared the above document and wrote, “Govt of Pakistan confirms a radiation in Northern Pakistan.” (Archive)

🚨

Govt of Pakistan confirms a radiation in Northern Pakistan.

Reosen is Kirana hills 🫡#Pakistan #radiation pic.twitter.com/gdiV2h8gNF

— Abhi ™ (@Patelizm) May 13, 2025

The memo was also shared on X with the same claim by verified users Amitabh Chaudhary, The Jaipur Dialogues, The Sphere Report and Nagrendra Pandey, among others.

Pro-Right propaganda outlet OpIndia published an article titled, “Did India hit Pakistan’s nuclear site during Operation Sindoor? Viral ‘Radiological Safety Bulletin’ purportedly issued by Islamabad fuels speculations”. It said, “A document labeled “Radiological Safety Bulletin” … has surfaced on the internet, igniting a storm of speculation. It alleges a confirmed radiation leak at a facility located in Northern Pakistan… ”

At the same time, the article also said, “The authenticity of the bulletin remains unverified and it could well be fake… ”

Fact Check

On a careful reading of the document, several spelling and formatting errors become apparent. The most glaring is the time of the alleged leak—‘24-55 hours’—which makes no sense. Other than that, the word ‘Confidential’ is spelt as ‘Confidental’; ‘Northern’ as ‘Norther’; ‘Following’ as ‘Pollowing’; ‘Safety’ as ‘Safet’ and so on.

We have pointed out the discrepancies and errors below:

Readers should note that there is no available public record of any entity called the National Radiological Safety Division as mentioned in the letter. The agency that oversees matters related to nuclear energy, radioactive sources and radiation in Pakistan is the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority. PNRA is currently headed by Faizan Mansoor, who is the chairman. We could not find any mention of an ‘Engr. Malik Asad Rafiq’, who has issued the viral memo, on any credible source or government document.

Also, at a press briefing on May 12, the Indian DGOA was asked by a journalist whether Indian strikes had hit Kirana Hills. “Thank you for telling us that Kirana Hills houses some nuclear installation, we did not know about it. We have not hit Kirana Hills, whatever is there,” he said.

#OperationSindoor | Delhi: When asked if India hit Kirana Hills, Air Marshal AK Bharti says, “Thank you for telling us that Kirana Hills houses some nuclear installation, we did not know about it. We have not hit Kirana Hills, whatever is there.” pic.twitter.com/wcBBVIhif1

— ANI (@ANI) May 12, 2025

Alt News also spoke to Sourendra Kumar Bhattacharya, a visiting scientist at Academia Sinica, Taiwan, an expert on the subject. When we showed him the document, he said, “There is no Indium 192 radioisotope available in sealed source. There is IRIDIUM192, a radioactive isotope used in Oncological therapy and to detect structural damage. Indium 113 and Indium 115 are two STABLE isotopes of Indium available.”

Thus, all our findings indicate that the viral document on a radiation leak in a nuclear facility in Pakistan is fake.