In the widely shared clip, Lt Gen Minwalla is purportedly heard making inflammatory statements, including, “If you ask me about one fault that we did in Operation Sindoor and what we learnt is that we should not have Muslim or Sikh officers in our Air Force. Last time we had two and now they are under arrest because the Pakistanis did not target their planes. I am pleased that Prime Minister Modi will be changing the Sikh Air Chief. We will fix that in the coming times. We have reduced 50 per cent of Sikh and Muslim officers and the rest shall be retiring soon enough.”
The alleged comments triggered widespread concern and debate online because of their overtly communal nature and the serious implications they carried for the Indian armed forces.
However, a keyword search using terms related to Lt Gen Zubin A Minwalla, Sikh and Muslim officers, and Operation Sindoor found no credible news reports, official statements, or verified records indicating that the senior military officer ever made such remarks.
Further investigation traced the source material to an official livestream of a press conference broadcast by DD News on May 7, 2026, held around the anniversary of Operation Sindoor. A careful review of the complete recording established that Lt Gen Minwalla did not make any of the statements heard in the viral clip.
A frame-by-frame analysis of the manipulated video revealed multiple visual inconsistencies. The mouth movements and facial expressions of Lt Gen Minwalla appeared unnatural and blurred in several segments, strongly suggesting the use of artificial intelligence to alter the footage.
To verify these findings, the video was examined using Hive Moderation, an artificial intelligence detection platform. The tool concluded that the footage likely contained AI-generated or deepfake elements. In a separate analysis, Hiya Deepfake Voice Detector determined that the audio was also likely generated using deepfake technology.
The findings confirm that the viral video is fabricated and that Lt Gen Zubin A Minwalla did not make any communal remarks regarding Sikh and Muslim officers in the Indian Air Force. The incident underscores the growing threat posed by sophisticated deepfake technology and highlights the urgent need for the public to verify sensational claims before accepting or sharing them.
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