Napoleon Bonaparte once said, “There are two powers in the world, the sword and the mind. In the long run, the sword is always beaten by the mind.” In this era of gradual progress in human intelligence, the security landscape is evolving too. With this progress and evolution, mankind has entered a phase of post-truth politics, in which warfare is more psychological than physical. In such a time, geopolitics is shaped and reshaped by narratives and propaganda that define policy decisions for security and defence. Seen through the prism of Indo-Pak conflicts—historical, contemporary, and the recent 2025 escalation—psychological warfare has always been a prevailing element in the confrontations between Islamabad and New Delhi. In the era of post-truth politics, PsyOps are strongly emerging as a powerful tool to manipulate, manoeuvre, and mobilize with the purpose of advancing statecraft tactics to destroy the enemy (Kumar, 2022).

In modern times, where the security landscape has been evolving continuously, the prevalence of post-truth politics—also known as post-factual politics and post-reality politics (Greene, 2025)—is manifested broadly in political cultures. Political dealings and strategic decisions in which subjectivity overshadows objectivity are called post-truth politics (Greene, 2025). According to Vittorio Bufacchi, “Post-truth is a murky concept, but it should not be confused with a lie” (European Center for Populism Studies, 2025). In the post-truth era, emotions overpower authentic facts, due to which the lines between truth and falsehood are blurred to the point that it becomes difficult to figure out what is right and authentic and what is wrong and fraudulent. These blurry lines give room to politicians and leaders to manipulate information by crafting narratives in order to gain public appeal through emotionalism, with the purpose of furthering their agenda driven by a hunger for power (Greene, 2025). According to John Keane, “Post-truth is the public burial of ‘objective facts’ by an avalanche of media ‘appeals to emotion and personal belief’” (European Center for Populism Studies, 2025). In sum, post-truth is a belief that truth has become obsolete (European Center for Populism Studies, 2025), using the tool of deception, making it far more devious and concerningly dangerous for a democratic society (European Center for Populism Studies, 2025). As a concept, post-truth politics is a new area of concern for academia, being a contemporary problem (Greene, 2025). However, despite being a contemporary problem, post-truth politics has historical roots (Greene, 2025); it is only with the advent of the internet and social changes that it has become more notable (European Center for Populism Studies, 2025). Hence, the concept of post-truth politics is like old wine in a new bottle. Tracing the roots of history, the manipulation of truth and elements of post-truth politics have been greatly found in ancient times, dominating philosophical discussion. Notable among them are Plato’s concept of the “noble lie” (Greene, 2025), and Machiavelli’s The Prince.

The use of propaganda against the enemy, supported by military, economic, or political measures with the intention of demoralizing the opponent, is called psychological warfare or PsyOps. Psychological warfare is not a new concept; it has existed since ancient times and has persistently evolved alongside the evolution of warfare. In ancient times, PsyOps were used by Cyrus the Great against Babylon, Xerxes against the Greeks, and Philip II of Macedon against Athens. In the 20th century, PsyOps became a dominant tool with which armies were trained, particularly the German and Allied forces during World War II, and the U.S. armed forces in the Korean and Vietnam wars (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2025). In modern times and the contemporary world, PsyOps have now become a concentrated expression and an integral part of all-time and space-struggle forms (Beauchamp-Mustafaga, 2023). Psychological warfare and its tactics have a broad scope in their manifestation, making them a crucial tool to further the agenda of post-truth politics. The truth is purposefully killed through psychological operations and tactics. This creates a security environment in which the public opinion of the enemy is no longer capable of distinguishing truth from falsehood (Parezanović & Proroković, 2024), creating a situation of psychological insecurity.

Ever since the British Raj demarcated the borders and divided the subcontinent, the now nuclear powers have been fighting with each other on the grounds of hate, animosity, and aggression, persistently through psychological warfare with the use of post-truth tactics. Right after the demarcation of borders, the newly formed Pakistan and India underwent the first war on the land of Kashmir in October 1947 that continued for more than a year until a ceasefire was declared in January 1949 (GlobalSecurity.org, 2025). The first Kashmir war was one of the earliest examples of PsyOps and propaganda warfare between India and Pakistan that leveraged upon regional dynamics, political disenfranchisement, and religious sentiments were leveraged to shape public perception and fuel the insurgency (Bakaya & Bhatti, n.d.). Moreover, radio played a crucial role as a government-controlled media tool of propaganda to power and fuel the war by influencing perceptions to gain support, combating insurgency, and for demoralizing adversary (Bhat, 2013).

In 1965, India and Pakistan underwent a second war over the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir. The conflict this time involved the USA and USSR in such a way that would have important implications for subsequent superpower involvement in the region. The war was called off when the Security Council passed Resolution 211 on September 20, calling for an end. The ceasefire was accepted by India and Pakistan on September 21 and September 22, respectively (Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State, n.d.). Unlike the first Indo-Pak war, the 1965 war intensely manifested post-truth narratives and elements of PsyOps through extensive use of........

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