The first video made the round already on Wednesday morning: An Indian pilot in an olive flight suit is lying in the mud, men yell at him, tugging at him. Again and again he tries to fend off blows against his head with his arms. His face is intact. There are also Pakistani soldiers trying to evict the mob. A shot is fired, probably fired in the air to disperse the crowd.
Then a second film: The rescued stands in a corridor, probably in a barracks, his face is bloody and has several cuts on. Another video shows the same situation, now his eyes are blindfolded. He says he is "Wing Commander Abhinandan", calls his personnel number - "two seven nine eight one" - and his unit with the Indian Air Force. "What else?" Someone asks him. "I'm sorry, sir, that's all I can tell you," he replies.
In the video: The situation between India and Pakistan is getting worse
AP
Then, in the afternoon local time, a new video: Now he stands, with clean, bloodless face in a bare room, in his hand a cup of tea. He calls again his rank and his name. A voice asks him: "I hope you have been well treated here with us?" He replies, "Yes, I became, and I would like to record, and I will say that in the future, when I return to my country, that the officers of the Pakistani army have taken great care of me, they are true gentlemen."
He mentions that a captain rescued him from the mob. He would wish that the Indian army would treat captured Pakistani soldiers in the same way. "I am very impressed by the Pakistani army," he says.
The recordings were probably filmed by Pakistani soldiers. Exact location, time and authenticity can not be checked. It is obvious that this is the Indian pilot whose plane was previously shot down by the Pakistani Air Force and crashed in the Pakistani part of the province of Kashmir. A second plane goes down in the Indian part. The man who was shot down and captured, praises his enemies here.
THE MIRROR
The propaganda videos are widely used in Pakistan and India. "You could have killed him, but we saved him, got him to safety, treated him," writes a Pakistani Twitter user - presumably a soldier - reiterating the tenor that prevails among Pakistani users: we are so generous and deal well with our opponents.
By contrast, Indian users dominate the images that show the bloodied pilots. #SaveAbhinandan is a widely used hashtag. "My blood is boiling," writes Twitter user Maitri Behura. "Our courageous pilot" is treated like this, while India serves Pakistani terrorists in the prison "Biryani", a rice dish. Pakistani Twitterers answer her again, the man had just crashed, so he bleed. But if you compare the videos of the pilot in the mud with those later in the interrogation, you see: At first, his face was not bloody yet.
Twitter, as is clear in this conflict between the nuclear powers India and Pakistan, is used on all sides as a propaganda tool. Both countries use those images that support their story. Each side tries to spread their point of view. Many fake pictures and videos are circulating. It is often left open, which are real, which of them manipulated or completely put.
Just as unclear are the facts. India spreads its first air strike on Tuesday to attack a "terrorist camp". There were "a total of 350 terrorists killed." The Pakistani military then shares pictures that show only a few metal fragments and craters in a forest and on a meadow. It was "no harm to humans", and "terrorists" were certainly not present at the site of the Indian attack.
more on the subject
Pakistan's alleged counter-attack, the attack on an area in the Indian part of Kashmir as well as the shooting down of two planes, raises questions. "Today's action was an act of self-defense," says army spokesman Asif Ghafoor. "We do not want to declare any victory." The Indian government, in turn, initially denied any loss of fighter jets, but admitted on Wednesday noon, it would miss a plane. Then on Wednesday circulated images of the crashed flying object - but show parts of a helicopter, not a fighter jet.
Meanwhile, Pakistan celebrates one of its officers: the fighter pilot Hassan, who is said to have shot down the Indian plane. Thousands call him "Hero of the Nation" on Twitter. And as if by chance, a 59-second, music-themed video appears on Twitter showing Hassan in action: in flight, at takeoffs and landings, and conversing with comrades.
The clip looks professionally produced.