ISLAMABAD: After a fresh Indian espionage bid foiled by Pakistani intelligence, Information and Broadcasting Minister Attaullah Tarar revealed on Saturday that a local fisherman was coerced by New Delhi’s secret agency into procuring Army, Navy, and Rangers uniforms along with other sensitive items. Tarar stated that India, still reeling from its battlefield defeat and the collapse of Operation Sindoor, had launched this desperate disinformation campaign—only for Pakistan’s vigilant agencies to thwart the plot.
Addressing a joint press conference alongside Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry, Tarar announced the arrest of Ijaz Malah, who was recruited by an Indian intelligence agency. He said the suspect was monitored while trying to obtain military uniforms and arrested as he attempted to cross into India.
Tarar claimed that investigations revealed Indian operatives had used “financial temptation and pressure” to recruit Malah. Security personnel recovered SIM cards, matches, lighters, and other items from the suspect. “I hope there will be no more terrorist incidents now,” Tarar remarked, linking the arrest to Pakistan’s efforts to preserve peace.
The minister said that India, frustrated by Pakistan’s “military and diplomatic successes”, had resorted to “false campaigns” and propaganda under the guise of military drills near Gujarat and Kutch — efforts that Pakistani agencies exposed and thwarted.
Sharing details from Malah’s confessional statement, Tarar said the accused admitted that Indian agencies detained him at sea, threatened him with imprisonment, and forced him to collect uniforms and mobile phone SIMs. The minister continued that the fisherman procured these items and proceeded to complete the task, but the Pakistani agencies arrested him and recovered all these articles, including uniforms with name tags, Zong SIM cards for which he was especially asked, cigarettes match boxes, lighters and other items. On slides, some of the items, including uniforms, were shown to the media on the occasion.
“India is frustrated by Pakistan’s victory in the Marka-e-Haq and diplomatic successes, and its defeat in Operation Sindoor and that Pakistan is gaining respect and dignity at the global level, which New Delhi is unable to digest and has started nefarious activities also in the name of military exercises,” he noted.
To a question, he said that Pakistan is presenting this evidence to the entire world to expose India’s nefarious designs while the global community is fully aware of New Delhi’s plots and false narrative.
Tarar noted that this particular activity could be linked with the naval exercise being carried out by the Indian Navy. He asserted that after the arrest of its spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, India is now resorting to send common fishermen because they can’t risk sending their commissioned officers in the guise of businessmen.
In his confessional video statement, which was shown to the media, the fisherman said he was Ijaz Malah, son of Riaz Malah, a resident of Taluka Shah Bandar, Thatta district, and was a family fisherman. He was in the sea in August 2025 when the Indian Coast Guard arrested him and said that it may take two to three years for him to be released for the crime for which he had been arrested. “I was told that if you work for us, your release may be possible immediately and in addition, I was also lured with money and a reward. Since I was afraid of jail and then lured with money, I agreed.
“I was released and instructed to bring Navy, Rangers, Army uniforms, 3 Zong SIMs, three mobile shop bills, Pakistani matches and cigarette boxes, lighters, and old notes of 100 and 50, after which I was released,” he narrated.”
He said that after reaching Pakistan, he collected all the things and then sent a photo to the intelligence agency officer Ashok Kumar and went to the sea in October with the belongings, when the Pakistani agencies arrested him. Supporting Tarar’s claims, Talal Chaudhry asserted that India’s “propaganda operation has been exposed” and reaffirmed that Pakistan’s soil is not used against anyone. He vowed, “We will confront and expose you everywhere,” citing the early circulation of a video related to the Jafar Express incident as evidence of India’s disinformation tactics.
Talal Chaudhry said that after the failure of Operation Sindoor, India is continuously taking certain steps. “Sometimes it is said that Operation Sindoor II will happen because it is not yet completed, sometimes they do not shake hands with players, and sometimes they try to erase their shame by not taking the cricket trophy.”
He said that it was evident from the recent arrests that similar steps are being attempted again. “First there was an operation and now there is a propaganda operation which has been badly exposed.” The minister stressed that India is habitual of carrying out fake encounters and staged incidents to build a state narrative “but it will fail every time.” The minister pointed out that Indian secret agencies, through Ijaz Malah, had ordered uniforms of the Pakistan Army, Navy, and Rangers, ensuring “names written on them were such that the world would know immediately they are Muslims.” He added that “it is not the first time that mobile SIMs had been ordered.”
He said that “India also claimed in Pahalgam that a Chinese satellite phone was found — that is, first you try to tell that someone from Pakistan came, then you involve China in it and try to tell the world that we are also competing with China.”
“I would like to ask India how many times you will do propaganda that Lahore was destroyed, Karachi Port caught fire; once you made an allegation that the fifth floor of the Kabul Serena Hotel has been taken by the ISI — we took out a picture of it and showed that Serena has two floors. Such kind of propaganda is done,” he noted.
