New Delhi, March 23 (IANS) On 11th March 2025, Baloch insurgents executed a coordinated attack, culminating in the hijacking of the Jaffar Express train in the remote Bolan district of Balochistan, which was carrying 440 passengers, mainly off-duty Pakistan Army personnel. The incident, one of the most significant displays of insurgent violence in recent memory, resulted in considerable casualties.
However, an extensive information blackout ensued as the events unfolded. This suppression of information was imposed by Pakistan’s military establishment, through its Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), which exerts strict control over the dissemination of narratives. The ISPR selectively released curated information via a number of mainstream television channels, effectively maintaining an informational void.
This incident has once again highlighted the powerful role of the ISPR as the primary conduit for state-sanctioned narrative construction, systematically shaping public perception of the armed forces by controlling the information environment.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Directorate, established in 1949, serves as the central public relations body of the Pakistani Armed Forces. Managed by a combined team of military personnel and civilian officials, it operates under the administrative oversight of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Secretariat (JCSS).
The Directorate is led by the Director General (DG), formerly known as the Executive Officer, who acts as the chief military spokesperson for the nation.
In 2024, the position of DG ISPR was upgraded to a three-star Lieutenant General rank, previously a two-star post.
The DG-ISPR reports directly to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) and the respective service chiefs of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, while also providing situational briefings to the Coast Guard chief and the Marine Commandant when necessary.
Although officially a joint military directorate, the ISPR has been predominantly influenced by the Pakistan Army, with a naval officer only having held its leadership once, between 1952 and 1965, which remains one of the longest tenures in its history.
The current Director General, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, is the 22nd individual to hold the position of DG ISPR and the first serving Lieutenant General to do so.
He is assisted by two Major General-ranked officers, who are responsible for managing foreign or strategic communications and domestic media affairs. Additionally, three Deputy Director Generals (DDGs) from the three branches of the armed forces oversee communication and media matters related to their respective services.
In his book The Military and Public Relations – Issues, Strategies, and Challenges (2012), John Adache asserts that the ISPR functions as a crucial intermediary between the military, the media, and the public.
As Adache describes, its primary objective is “to secure national support for the Armed Forces” while protecting the military from negative narratives, whether from domestic or international sources. In this role, through its meticulously managed communication strategies, the ISPR acts as a central element in the state’s information control and perception management framework.
For example, the ISPR demonstrated its role as a key tool in promoting a pro-military narrative by actively spreading misinformation, ahead of the Pakistan Army’s operational response to the Bolan train hijacking crisis.
Pakistan’s television channels, functioning as media outlets influenced by the military, broadcasted manipulated video footage of military helicopters, allegedly provided by the ISPR, which sought to present these as genuine visuals of the military operation.
As the military operation progressed, the ISPR officially reported that the Pakistan Army had secured nearly 80 hostages by the evening of 11th March. However, these claims were challenged by independent sources and survivors, who asserted that it was the BLA fighters who allowed women, children, and the elderly to pass through safely.
Additionally, after the Army stated that the BLA had killed 21 military hostages out of over 300 they had captured, this narrative was contradicted by ground reports, despite the media blackout, which indicated that over a hundred military hostages had been executed by Baloch insurgents. The BLA, for its part, claimed to have killed 214 military hostages during the standoff.
Between the differing claims of the ISPR and the BLA, the true number of casualties remains uncertain, highlighting how the ISPR used selective statistics to mitigate potential criticism and shape public perception, aiming to deflect accountability for significant intelligence and security failures by controlling the flow of information.
The ISPR functions through a complex organisational structure, consisting of various divisions, each with specialised responsibilities, including the Media Management and Public Affairs Wings, the Production and Content Creation Division, and the Monitoring and Analysis Wing, among others.
Within the Media Management and Public Affairs Wings, there are further subunits with specific roles, such as Media Relations, which handles interactions with domestic and international media outlets; Public Relations, which manages official military statements and public outreach; Social Media Management, which curates and oversees the military’s digital presence; and Crisis Communication, which develops rapid-response strategies during emergencies or operational events.
Consider the case of the Balakot Air Strikes conducted by India in 2019, which highlighted the ISPR’s role in strategic narrative management.
On 26th February 2019, when Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter jets crossed the international border to target Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorist infrastructure deep within Pakistan, the ISPR, then led by Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor, sought to mitigate the reputational impact of this significant airspace breach that caught Pakistani forces by surprise.
In his official briefing, the DG ISPR downplayed the incident, claiming that the IAF jets had merely struck a “forested area” without causing substantial damage or loss of life.
Although the ISPR tightly controlled the flow of information, local social media reports from that time revealed how authorities sanitised the area by removing dead bodies before the ISPR organised a guided tour for journalists. This calculated framing demonstrated the ISPR’s skillful use of information management to influence public perception, minimise domestic criticism, and control both national and international discussions surrounding this security failure.
In addition to its significant control over mainstream news channels, the ISPR utilises its Production and Content Creation Division to actively produce media content, including documentaries, dramas, songs, and other military-related material.
This includes partnerships with the entertainment industry, such as sponsoring numerous television dramas—arguably the most popular form of entertainment in Pakistan—in order to capitalise on the cultural influence of mainstream media. The goal is to foster a positive public perception of the armed forces by promoting favourable military narratives.
For example, consider the widely praised drama Ehd-e-Wafa (Pledge of Allegiance), which aired on Hum TV, PTV Home, and the ISPR’s own platforms between 2019 and 2020. Directed by Momina Duraid, a leading media director and the creative head of the Hum TV network, the series followed the lives of four friends from diverse social backgrounds, one of whom had a military background.
Notably, the portrayal of the military character was carefully crafted to present the Army as a symbol of moral integrity, sophistication, and social prestige.
In stark contrast, the narratives surrounding the other three characters and their families were imbued with depictions of moral corruption, personal shortcomings, and socio-cultural dysfunction.
This deliberate contrast highlighted how the Pakistan Army perceives broader society, with the ISPR playing a key role in using entertainment media as a tool for narrative construction—systematically enhancing the idealised image of the armed forces while reinforcing a sanitized, glorified view of military life.
This illustrates how the ISPR skillfully employs a carefully constructed information management system to assert its dominance over the national media landscape, strategically advancing its narrative-building efforts to foster a favourable public image of the armed forces.
The extensive influence of this military-media complex operates with such sophistication that it requires advanced media literacy to fully understand its underlying mechanisms and objectives. However, the rise of social media has, to some extent, disrupted this hegemonic control, acting as a countervailing force.
Through collective digital mobilisation and grassroots fact-checking, sections of the public, despite facing significant risks from the military, have increasingly challenged state-sanctioned narratives, effectively exposing the constructed nature of the military’s information system— a phenomenon reminiscent of the proverbial “unmasking of the shadowy emperor.”
–IANS
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