Following the Bondi Beach shooting that killed 15 people, a wave of misinformation has flooded social media, with some reports falsely linking the attackers to Pakistan.

International fact-checkers and Australian authorities confirmed the attackers were a father-son duo from New South Wales, with the father, Sajid Akram, having immigrated to Australia in 1998 and his son Naveed being born in Australia. Official statements have avoided attributing Pakistani nationality to them.

Despite these verifications, numerous Indian media reports and social media accounts mislabelled the attackers as "Pakistani nationals" or "from Lahore". This incident fits a broader pattern documented by international outlets that some Indian media use crises to advance geopolitical narratives against Pakistan. For example, in May, a major Indian Hindi news channel, Times Now Navbharat, broadcast a false graphic claiming "Indian forces enter into Pakistan," later debunked by Reuters Institute, which noted that "a month?s worth of misinformation bombarded social media within a few hours."

The Bondi case has hence been described as following this playbook. The campaign misidentified civilians, including a man named Naveed Akram, who publicly pleaded for people to stop circulating his photo as the shooter. While Pakistani authorities act against terrorism, some media actors continue to push propaganda to deflect domestic challenges. The international community is urged to recognize and reject fabricated news designed to sow discord and damage Pakistan's reputation.