Every year on August 14, Pakistan gets one chance to reflect on its 79 years of existence—on its fractured democracy, its economy in tatters, and its reputation as a global sponsor of terror.
Instead, Islamabad chose the familiar path this Independence Day: propaganda over truth, self-delusion over reality, and medals for failures masquerading as victories. The spectacle in Islamabad was almost comical.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif presided over a grand ceremony where 488 medals were showered on military and civilian officials. Not for genuine bravery, not for defending the homeland, but for spinning fiction into fact.
In a bizarre twist, Pakistan’s top honour went to Wing Commander Malik Rizwan-Ul-Haq Iftikhar—for supposedly destroying India’s S-400 air defence system. This was the crowning jewel of Pakistan’s fantasy parade.
The truth? During Operation Sindoor in May, India’s Russian-built S-400 Triumf proved impenetrable. After the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, when India struck back on May 7, Pakistan attempted a counteroffensive between May 8 and 10. Each attempt was intercepted. Not a single missile breached Indian defences.
The S-400 not only stood tall but earned the nickname “Sudarshan Chakra” for neutralising every incoming threat. Yet Pakistan, desperate to save face, peddled a grainy “satellite image” claiming an S-400 unit had been hit at Adampur airbase.
The charade collapsed spectacularly when Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally visited Adampur, standing shoulder to shoulder with jawans next to the supposedly “destroyed” system. That one photograph did more than debunk Pakistan’s lie—it exposed Islamabad’s propaganda machine for what it is: shameless, crude, and easily dismantled.
Wing Commander Vyomika Singh summed it up crisply: Pakistan’s claims about destroying the S-400, hitting Indian airfields at Suratgarh and Sirsa, or even denting India’s defences were nothing but “malicious misinformation.” India rejected them outright, and the world saw through the charade.
But Pakistan, rather than admit its failures, doubled down. On Independence Day, medals rained down like confetti. The ISI chief, Lt Gen Muhammad Asim Malik, and army spokesperson Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry were awarded not for combat but for running a propaganda operation.
Air Vice Marshal Aurangzeb Ahmed and Vice Admiral Raja Rab Nawaz—whose only achievement was briefing the media—also walked away decorated. Even politicians joined the medal bandwagon: Ishaq Dar, Khawaja Asif, Mohsin Naqvi, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. In Islamabad’s eyes, if you can dress up defeat as victory, you deserve a medal. The irony was not lost on observers.
Social media erupted with ridicule: “How do they even sleep at night after lying?” asked one user. Another quipped, “I wonder if any of them feel any shame taking these medals, knowing deep down inside they could not hit a single target.”
The contrast with India could not have been sharper. While Pakistan handed out awards for imaginary triumphs, India honoured genuine heroes like Wing Commander Rizwan Malik with the Vir Chakra for his role in Operation Sindoor. Pakistan’s Independence Day circus laid bare a deeper truth: this is a state so trapped in denial that it cannot acknowledge its own defeats, even when they are glaring.
Instead of reflecting on its failed May misadventure—a reckless gamble that almost dragged the subcontinent into war—it chose to pat itself on the back for victories that never happened. Ultimately, the August 14 celebrations revealed not strength but weakness. A confident nation doesn’t need to invent victories.
A secure state doesn’t need to decorate propagandists. A mature leadership doesn’t need to feed its citizens lies to mask failure. India emerged from the conflict unscathed, its defences intact, its leadership resolute. Pakistan, on the other hand, emerged with nothing more than a stack of medals awarded for figments of imagination.
Independence Day should have been a moment of sober reflection for Islamabad. Instead, it was an exhibition of insecurity, desperation, and national self-deception. If facts are the battlefield, Pakistan is once again its own worst enemy.
