Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry on Thursday challenged Indian media and security agencies’ claims that a former Pakistan Army soldier had been killed in an encounter in Indian-occupied Kashmir, presenting retired Havildar Mohammad Asif before journalists in Rawalpindi.
The press conference came two days after India’s Chinar Corps announced an operation in the Korag area of Yousmarg and claimed that a Lashkar-e-Taiba militant had been killed. Indian media subsequently identified the alleged militant as Mohammad Asif alias Hashim Musa and reported that he was a former Pakistan Army soldier who had served with the Special Services Group (SSG).
The Indian reports also circulated detailed personal and service information attributed to Asif, including his alleged date of birth, military service number, rank and SSG background. The reports further linked him to the April 2025 Pahalgam attack and other militant activity in occupied Kashmir.
Lt Gen Chaudhry directly disputed the account, asking why such a narrative had been presented when the person identified as the slain was alive.
“Why the need for all this drama?” the DG ISPR said while presenting Mohammad Asif during the briefing. He described the Indian account as another “false-flag” operation and said Indian military and political institutions had promoted the claim.
Asif himself addressed the media during the press conference and said he had learned through friends that reports were circulating on social media claiming he had been killed in Kashmir. He said he was at home when the reports appeared and subsequently received calls from Indian numbers seeking personal information about him.
According to Asif, he joined the Pakistan Army in 2000, entered the SSG in 2005 and retired from military service in 2023. He said he later worked for a private security company and had been living with his family in Rawalpindi.
The competing accounts have placed the identity of the person killed in the September 29 operation at the centre of a dispute between India and Pakistan. Indian authorities and media have maintained that a militant identified as Mohammad Asif alias Hashim Moosa was killed during the operation, while Pakistan has publicly presented a retired soldier with that name and disputed the Indian identification. Independent reporting has not fully reconciled the two accounts.
The dispute also revived the wider controversy surrounding the Pahalgam attack of April 2025. Indian authorities had previously linked the attack to Pakistan, while Islamabad rejected the allegation and called for an independent investigation. The dispute contributed to the military confrontation between the two nuclear-armed neighbours in May 2025.
During Thursday’s briefing, Lt Gen Chaudhry also criticised what he described as the use of terrorism-related narratives for political purposes. He said Pakistan’s counterterrorism campaign was “paramount” and should not be compromised or sacrificed for politics.
He said Pakistan had been fighting terrorism for more than two decades and had suffered more than 100,000 deaths, along with substantial economic and social losses. He also referred to the National Action Plan and the Azm-e-Istehkam framework as agreed national approaches to counterterrorism.
The DG ISPR further said Pakistan would continue to prioritise national security and would not compromise its territorial integrity or defence. He also declined to comment on domestic political matters, saying politics was the domain of political parties.
