Pakistan Clarifies Soldier Identity After Dispute Over Killed Kashmir Militant
<p>ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s military continued to seek to disprove Indian claims connecting a former fellow service member to a killed Kashmiri militant after Indian media released a photograph purporting to show his national identity card and described him as a senior LeT commander killed in an operation in Kashmir.</p>
<p>The dispute follows a history of militant assaults across the disputed region, repeatedly deepening tensions between the two nuclear‑armed peoples. A four‑day confrontation last year stemmed from New Delhi’s accusation that Pakistan supported attackers in Pahalgam, resulting in 26 deaths; Islamabad denied any role.</p>
<p>Indian military authorities asserted on Wednesday that they had recovered the remains of a Lashkar‑e‑Taiba fighter labeled Mohammad Asif, previously identified as a senior LeT figure involved in a series of attacks. Indian officials presented him as a commander slain during a border operation in the Budgam district of Indian‑administered Kashmir.</p>
<p>“I’m alive and speaking before you,” Muhammad Asif declared to reporters after Lt. Gen. Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry summoned him to the news conference. He explained that friends contacted him after seeing reports linking the Indian Army’s kill count to him, prompting him to share personal contact details over subsequent days.</p>
<p>Asif recounted joining the Pakistan Army in 2000, enlisting in the Special Services Group in 2005, and retiring in 2023 before taking work alongside a private security firm. He noted he had recently relocated with his family to Rawalpindi.</p>
<p>Chaudhry characterized the episode as a “false flag,” walking the press through Indian defence ministry statements, government releases, and media depictions that gradually wove together the slain militant with Asif’s own identity.<br>“This situation troubles us,” Chaudhry cautioned on Thursday, warning that any move to justify further hostilities based solely on such incidents would trigger a strict military response from the state.</p>
<p>“We will not let opponents escape unpunished next time,” he reiterated, underscoring Pakistan’s stance against externalisation of grievances.</p>
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<p><a href="https://www.arabnews.pk/pakistan/false-flag-pakistan-presents-soldier-india-identified-as-slain-kashmir-militant-3002894">Source link </a></p>
