Indians have taken to social media in embarrassment after Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry presented during his press conference the retired Pakistan Army commando whom Indian armed forces had claimed to have killed in Held Kashmir.
As per the details, Lt Gen Chaudhry presented Havaldar (r) Mohammad Asif after Indian reports identified him as a “militant” killed during an operation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK) earlier this week.
Indian Army’s Chinar Corps had said on Sept 29 that it launched a joint operation with police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in the Korag-Yousmarg area, adding that forces had recovered the body of a “Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant”.
Indian news agency ANI had then identified the deceased as Asif, going on to release a copy of his national ID card. Indian authorities had also linked the man, “Musa alias Asif Fauji”, to terror attacks in the troubled valley.
“So here is that superman. You can see this superman. Please, come, my brother. Tell us about these achievements of yours, what all you have been doing,” the ISPR chief said, laughing as he invited Asif on stage during his presser.
The retired commando told journalists that friends and family had been contacting him after seeing reports on social media that the Indian Army had martyred him. “I told them that I was here, alive and healthy,” he said.
He added that he also received calls from Indian numbers asking about his identity, whereabouts and possible connection with the reports.
Asif stated that he joined the Pakistan Army in 2000, entered the Special Service Group (SSG) in 2005 and retired in 2023 after 18 years of service. He later worked for a private security company and had been living with his family. He went on to reject the allegations against him as “false, ignominious and disreputable”.
With his appearance going viral over the internet, reactions started pouring in from Pakistani journalists and commentators, also prompting some Indian social media users to express embarrassment.
Journalist Ajmal Jami described Asif as “the very same individual” whom Chinar Corps had claimed to eliminate and called the episode “an extremely embarrassing case for the Indian Army and the media that had hyped up that claim”.
Journalist Shahzad Iqbal reacted more directly, writing, “He is alive. Zinda hay aur Pakistan mein hay duffers.”
Another social media user described the episode as the “funniest thing” they have seen all week and praised ISPR’s handling of the press conference.
“As an Indian, I feel ashamed that the Indian Army falsely claimed to have eliminated Hashim Musa alias Mohammed Asif, the Pahalgam mastermind,” wrote an Indian social media user.
Another Indian also echoed the same thing and wrote, “As an Indian, I’m embarrassed and ashamed that our Indian Army lied about ‘Mohammed Asif’ Hashim Musa, the main planner of the Pahalgam attack being killed.”
Another asked, “Isn’t it embarrassing for India that the Pakistani commando reportedly killed by the Chinar Corps in Kashmir was presented alive on live TV by Pakistani authorities?”
An Indian user also criticised the country’s intelligence following the Pahalgam attack, writing that “India has no intelligence” and had “lost it every way but they pretended to win to apprise nationwide movements”.
Earlier, Lt Gen Chaudhry also said that the episode reflected attempts to link Pakistan with terrorism and urged India to provide evidence for its allegations to Pakistan or a third party.
He also warned that Pakistan’s armed forces were prepared for any escalation, saying that any response to a strategic folly by India would be “very, very severe”.
