India, Nov. 30 -- When Pakistan's military publicity arm released a short video in late November showing a missile rising from a grey warship into a pale sky, the clip appeared to signal a new phase in the country's naval ambitions. The accompanying statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) described a successful flight test of an indigenously developed anti-ship ballistic missile capable of striking "sea and land targets with high precision." It was a routine announcement of the kind that militaries issue every year across the world.

Yet the reaction that followed was anything but routine. Within minutes of the video going online, Pakistan's defence-themed social-media channels began circulating strikingly different inte...