The news channels of arch-rivals India and Pakistan are often seen taking aim at each other during their primetime shows. But on Sunday, viewers of Pakistan's Dawn news channel were stunned to see the Indian national flag fluttering across the screen during an advertisement, with the message: “'Happy Independence Day”.
The incident went viral on social media, with Pakistani nationals sharing screenshots and video snippets of the occurrence.
"Happy Independence Day" with an Indian flag appeared on Dawn News during a commercial break. Tv channel says it was hacked and has ordered an investigation: https://t.co/yN5XTJkFvf pic.twitter.com/Xvl7UDoUsn
— Naila Inayat नायला इनायत (@nailainayat) August 2, 2020
The news channel soon confirmed the incident, clarifying that it had been hacked.
Netizens in Pakistan targeted the channel and sought to know how a news channel could get hacked.
At 3:27 pm today, on DAWN news channel, during a commercial, INDIAN flag was showing for 16 seconds.
— Mir Mohammad Alikhan (@MirMAKOfficial) August 2, 2020
Why would the Indians hack their own channel ?
Lol.
You can’t hack transmission & add a layer only on it 🤣🤣🤣. U’ve to hack the whole transmission in studio in order to do that which is impossible. Inside Job!!
— BATMAN 🦇 (@asim_121) August 2, 2020
They want to show solidarity with india. Definitely grabbed a big amount for this "So Called Mishap".
— Tehmas Zohra (@TehmasZohra) August 2, 2020
While the channel did not clarify where the attack came from, several Pakistani nationals suspected India's hand in the mischief.
Indian hackers hacked Pakistan's leading news channel @Dawn_News.
— Al iskandar (@TheSkandar) August 2, 2020
Wait for more such things. 🤞 pic.twitter.com/rkoAWn24A1
However, their Indian counterparts shared a laugh and mocked the channel for the slip-up. One stated that it was a Pakistani boy irked by the ban on PUBG.
😂😂😂😂they were not indian hackers ... Pakistani boys fed up due to #PUBG ban ...so they intentionally done it ..TV broadcast hack nahi hota Madarsachaap . ...😂😂
— Billu Bhai (@smellybilla) August 2, 2020
Others made fun of the Independence Day spelling, which was spelt as “Inepenenece day”
Indepenence??? The spelling mistake says something
— Rasnamarie (@rasnamarie) August 2, 2020
