RAWALPINDI: Director General Inter-Services Public Relations Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry has rejected the Indian Army’s claim that a man killed in Budgam belonged to Pakistan, presenting retired havildar Mohammad Asif alive at a press conference on October 1 and calling the Indian account a “false flag”.
According to the Indian Army’s Chinar Corps, a joint operation by the army, police and CRPF in the Korag area of Yousmarg, Budgam district, on the night of September 29-30 killed a militant identified as “Mohammad Asif alias Hashim Moosa”, described as a Lashkar-e-Taiba commander.
Asif, presented at the press conference, said he joined the Pakistan Army in 2000, moved to the elite Special Services Group (SSG) in 2005, retired in 2023, and lives with his family in Rawalpindi, according to reports in Dawn and Arab News. Indian officials had claimed he once served in former president Pervez Musharraf’s security convoy and was involved in high-profile attacks over the last three years.
The DG ISPR said the presentation of the living man disproved the Indian claim. At the time of publication, India had not formally responded to the Pakistani press conference.
The episode underscores the contested nature of military claims in the region, where independent verification of such assertions is rarely possible.
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