RAWALPINDI (MNN); Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry on Thursday challenged India’s claim that a Pakistani former soldier allegedly linked to the April 2025 Pahalgam attack had been killed in an operation in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, presenting the man himself at a press conference.
The Indian Army and media had reported that Mohammad Asif alias Hashim Moosa, described by Indian authorities as a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander, was killed during an operation in the Korag-Yousmarg area of Budgam on September 30. Indian reports said he was wanted in connection with several attacks, including the Pahalgam incident.
Lt Gen Chaudhry described the episode as what he called another “false-flag” operation and presented a timeline beginning on September 29. He referred to posts by the Indian Army’s Chinar Corps announcing a joint operation by the Army, police and CRPF in the Korag area, followed the next morning by a claim that the body of a Pakistan-based LeT militant had been recovered.
Indian media subsequently identified the alleged militant as Mohammad Asif and reported that he had served in Pakistan’s Special Services Group (SSG). India’s Ministry of Home Affairs also said that “Musa alias Asif Fauji” had been killed during an ongoing operation.
During the press conference, however, Lt Gen Chaudhry called Mohammad Asif to the stage and introduced him as a former Pakistan Army soldier from Attock.
Asif told reporters that friends had contacted him after seeing reports on social media claiming that he had been killed in Kashmir. He said he was at home and “alive and healthy”.
According to Asif, he joined the Pakistan Army in 2000, entered the SSG in 2005, served for 18 years and retired in 2023. He said he later worked for a private security company and had been living with his family in Rawalpindi for the past three to four months.
Asif rejected the allegations against him as false and said he condemned the claims.
Lt Gen Chaudhry subsequently outlined what he described as six reasons behind what he termed India’s “such dramas”, including developments in occupied Kashmir and what he alleged was an attempt to divert attention from terrorism-related allegations.
He also criticised Indian media coverage, displaying reports from several Indian news organisations that had published the claims about Asif.
India, meanwhile, has maintained that the man killed in the Budgam operation was Mohammad Asif alias Hashim Moosa, a Pakistan-based LeT operative. Indian reports said the operation followed intelligence inputs and that weapons and other material were recovered from the site.
The conflicting accounts remain the central issue in the episode, with Pakistani authorities presenting the former soldier alive while Indian authorities continue to identify the person killed in Budgam as Mohammad Asif alias Hashim Moosa.
