After Narendra Modi's visit to Oslo on 18 May 2026, Pakistani accounts on X claimed he had dodged a foreign journalist's question about Indian aircraft lost in Operation Sindoor. That is false: Norwegian reporter Helle Lyng asked why he would not take questions from the press.
Claim: Modi "did not respond to a question from a foreign journalist regarding reported aircraft losses" in Operation Sindoor.
Said by: Pakistani accounts on X, including Pakistan Economic Network (@NetPakistan), on 19 May 2026.
What the record shows: Lyng's question was about press freedom. Neither her video nor Norway's official record of the event mentions Operation Sindoor.
Where the claim came from
On 18 May 2026 Modi made a joint press appearance in Oslo with Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and took no questions. As he left, Lyng, a reporter for the Oslo newspaper Dagsavisen, called out to him. She posted the clip on X the same day, and it was viewed millions of times. Nieman Reports
The next day, Pakistani accounts reused the clip with a different story. Pakistan Economic Network (@NetPakistan) said Modi "did not respond to a question from a foreign journalist regarding reported aircraft losses", a reference to the India-Pakistan conflict of May 2025 known in India as Operation Sindoor. BOOM
What the evidence shows
Documented Lyng's question, as recorded in her own video, was: "Prime Minister Modi, why don't you take some questions from the freest press in the world?" Nieman Reports
In her post she wrote that Modi "would not take my question, I was not expecting him to", noted that Norway ranks first on the World Press Freedom Index and India 157th, and said: "It is our job to question the powers we cooperate with." BOOM
False BOOM checked her post and video and found no mention of Operation Sindoor or the India-Pakistan conflict. It also checked the Norwegian government's official page for the press appearance and found no such question. BOOM rated the claim false on 21 May 2026. BOOM
At a later briefing at the Indian embassy, Lyng pressed MEA Secretary Sibi George on India's human-rights record. That exchange also did not concern Operation Sindoor. DNA India
Context
Lyng was later targeted from the other direction. Indian online abuse after her question included death threats, and Meta suspended and then restored her Instagram account after Reporters Without Borders intervened. Nieman Reports In October a video by PN Rai, carried by Organiser, claimed she was an Oslo Freedom Forum speaker; there is no evidence for that, as our speaker fact check shows. The wider story is on our page on the foreign reaction to India's protests.
Questions people ask
What did Helle Lyng ask Modi?
"Prime Minister Modi, why don't you take some questions from the freest press in the world?" She asked it in Oslo on 18 May 2026.
Did a journalist ask Modi about lost jets in Norway?
No. BOOM found no mention of Operation Sindoor in her video or in Norway's official record of the event.
Who spread the Operation Sindoor version?
Pakistani accounts on X, including Pakistan Economic Network, from 19 May 2026.
