Fact check: Letters about mass resignations, low morale in Pakistan Army after Pahalgam attack are fake
Posts from several Indian accounts on social media platform X on Sunday shared alleged documents claiming en masse resignations of Pakistan Army personnel and low morale in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack. However, the letters are fake.
An attack took place in Pahalgam, a tourist hotspot in India-occupied Kashmir that draws thousands of visitors every summer, on April 22. Gunmen opened fire on visitors, killing at least 26 people — all men from across India except one from Nepal — and injuring 17 others. It was the region’s deadliest attack on civilians since 2000. A hitherto unknown group, named by several Indian outlets as ‘The Resistance Front’, is said to have claimed responsibility for the attack.
India followed suit by announcing a series of actions against Pakistan. Responding in kind, Pakistan also announced a series of measures, including the closure of its airspace to all India-owned or Indian-operated airlines with immediate effect.
As diplomatic channels dry up and treaty frameworks teeter, analysts warn that relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours may be approaching a dangerous tipping point, with limited space remaining for de-escalation.
On Sunday, an Indian user shared a letter on X with the Pakistan Army’s emblem on the top left corner.
The caption of the post said: “Breaking news … Asim Munir sends his family over to Britain, along with families of other generals. Result mass resignations in Pakistani Army. Officers are petrified of facing the Indian Armed Forces.”
According to the details mentioned in the document, the alleged letter was sent to Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir at Rawalpindi’s General Headquarters from Corps Commander Peshawar (XI Corps), Lieutenant General Omer Ahmed Bokhari.
The letter starts with the subject, “Massive surge in resignations amid rising tensions with India.” The text of the alleged letter is reproduced below:
“I am writing to bring to your esteemed attention an alarming situation that has developed over the past 48 hours. Reports from various formations indicate a wave of resignations, the scale of which is unprecedented in recent history. This trend is creating significant concerns about the operational stability and morale of our troops.
Key Details as of April 26, 2025, 0800 hours:
- XII Corps (Quetta):
Number of Resignations: 120 officers and 400 enlisted personnel
Impacted units: Infantry regiments deployed along the western borders.
- Force Command Northern Areas (FCNA):
Number of Resignations: 80 officers and 300 enlisted personnel
Impacted units: Mountain battalions tasked with safeguarding critical sectors in the northern region.
- I Corps (Mangla):
Number of Resignations: 50 officers and 500 enlisted personnel
Impacted units: Mechanised infantry and artillery regiments stationed at key forward positions.
Total Resignations: 250 officers and 1,200 enlisted personnel
Cited reasons: The resigning personnel have predominantly cited family pressures, mental fatigue, and uncertainty about the strategic directives amidst escalating tensions with India.
This situation demands immediate intervention to mitigate its impact on our operational readiness and morale.
Your immediate guidance and intervention are crucial to address this critical issue and stabilise the ranks. I remain available to provide additional details or assistance as required.
Yours sincerely.“
The post gained over 962,000 views and was reshared 4,200 times.
A post by another Indian user sharing the same alleged letter gained 21,700 views and 4,200 shares and was shared by several other Indian X users with similar claims as can be seen here, here, here, here and here.
Separately, the executive editor for Indian-Telugu channel TV9 Network shared another document making a similar claim of mass resignations within the Pakistan Army.
The caption of the post said: “Huge. Mass resignations are being reported in Pakistan Army as morale is at its lowest under Asim Munir’s leadership.”
The text of the alleged letter is reproduced below:
“Subject: Reinforcing duty and discipline
To: All ranks, Pakistan Armed Forces From: Major General Faisal Mehmood Malik, HI(M), DGISPR
-
The incident done by our Mujahideens in Pahalgam has escalated and now there are fears of war with India, leading to huge requests for resignation and desertion among army personnel. This disinformation aims to undermine our unity and Iman.
-
Directives:
-Uphold Your Oath: As Mujahideen of Pakistan, your commitment to defend the nation is sacred. Reject fear and stand firm.
-Maintain Morale: Our forces remain battle-ready, as demonstrated in Operation Swift Retort. Commanding Officers to conduct darbars to reinforce the high spirit.
-Discipline: Unauthorized resignation or desertion from service will face strict action under the Pakistan Army Act, 1952.
- Call to Unity: You are the heirs of our Shuhada. Stand united under the crescent and star.
Pakistan Jinabad!“
The post received 1.2 million views and was shared 3,000 times.
A fact check was initiated to determine the veracity of the letters due to their virality and keen public interest in the events unfolding between India and Pakistan in the wake of the recent Pahalgam attack.
The first letter presents many formatting errors upon first glance, such as “commander”, “headquarters” and “peshawar” written in lower case at the top right-hand side, along with spelling eleven as “Xi” when it is spelt as “XI” when referring to the respective army corps.
There was also no date for the alleged letter.
Furthermore, it did not make sense for the commander of the Peshawar Corps to be discussing the details of other corps rather than his own, since they do not fall under his chain of command.
Sending an email to the provided address (o.bokhari@pakarmy.mil.pk) to verify it showed that the domain could not be found, showing that it was invalid.
Similarly, the contact number (+92-91-9200001) was also found to be “not listed” as per the operator when called.
According to several AI and ChatGPT detectors, such as Grammarly, QuillBot and ZeroGPT, the document’s text was found to be 66 per cent, 100pc and 71.3pc AI-generated, respectively.
A senior military official at the Peshawar Corps headquarters told Dawn correspondent Arif Hayat: “The resignation of army personnel is totally baseless. This is the fake news which is circulated by Indian social media accounts.”
As for the other letter, it presented glaring mistakes that showed it was a forged and fake document since the current director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations is Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry.
Furthermore, a keyword search yielded no record of a military official by the name of Major General Faisal Mehmood Malik.
Additionally, the common patriotic slogan of “Pakistan Zindabad” (long live Pakistan) was instead written as “Pakistan Jinabad”, which is Hindi.
Lastly, the signature at the letter’s end looked to be copied and pasted from somewhere hastily since its square border did not match the white background of the alleged document and it was partially cropped off as well, suggesting it was an edit.
Therefore, the fact-check determined that the claim that confidential internal correspondence and letters of the Pakistan Army raise alarms about rising resignations and low morale in the wake of the developing situation after the Pahalgam attack is false.
The two letters were confirmed to be fakes, as seen by the many errors and factual inconsistencies in them.
This fact check was originally published by iVerify Pakistan — a project of CEJ-IBA and UNDP.
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