IPS officer trolls Pakistanis celebrating destruction of ‘Bangalore Port’ – which doesn’t exist | Trending

Senior IPS officer Arun Bothra joined thousands of Indians in mocking Pakistanis who celebrated the Pakistan Navy’s ‘destruction’ of Bangalore Port – seemingly unaware or willfully ignoring the fact that Bangalore is a landlocked city with no port.

Amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, a number of Pakistanis and Pakistan supporters took to social media over the weekend to falsely claim their navy had destroyed the port of Bengaluru. In reality, Bengaluru – the capital of Karnataka – is at least 300km away from the shoreline. A screenshot of one such comment was widely circulated and mocked on Indian social media.

“Bangalore Port destroyed by Pakistan Navy,” read the comment from a man named Faward Ur Rehman. His comment quickly became the subject of much trolling. It comes amid a slew of misinformation being spread on social media at a time of conflict.

IPS officer reacts

IPS officer Arun Bothra reacted to the viral comment by joking: “Bangalore has only USB ports.”

IAS Awanish Sharan replied to his X post, taking a dig at another viral screenshot claiming the destruction of “Patna sea port.” Patna, in Bihar, is another landlocked Indian city.

People took recourse in sarcasm to dismiss the outlandish claims.

Misinformation on social media

The Press Information Bureau’s Fact Check unit has been working overtime to debunk the many false claims circulating on social media. In a recent post, PIB Fact Check informed users that several combat gaming videos are being shared online as real clips from the India Pakistan conflict.

“Several combat gaming videos are being deceptively circulated as real footages of recent India-Pakistan conflict. Please don’t fall prey to such propaganda posts,” the unit advised.

India and Pakistan on Saturday agreed to immediately cease all hostilities across land, air, and sea, following four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes. However, hours after the announcement, Jammu and Kashmir was rattled by a series of drone sightings in the night, followed by the sound of explosions, prompting security personnel to engage air defence systems to bring them down.

(Also read: Pak minister schooled by CNN anchor for absurd ‘social media’ reply as proof of downing Indian jets)